Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Forging Our Way Through the COVID-19 Era as an Independent Podcast Network


 When we look back at 2020, how will we remember it? 

We were already facing global warming when COVID-19 hit. In the US, society’s fractures were exacerbated by the pandemic and a lack of effective leadership. The scars of racism, misogyny, political chaos and widespread unrest are raw. 


The past six months have challenged us beyond imagination. We believe in our purpose and are doing everything we can to keep our community strong through this global crisis. 


At TWiT.tv, we produce 20 weekly podcasts for an engaged community of tech enthusiasts. We are one of the longest-running independent tech podcasting networks. We haven’t missed a single episode since the pandemic began. 


But the impact of COVID-19 on our network has been significant, and we’ve had to pivot, be flexible, find new solutions, and remember who we are as a team. 


We see fluctuations in our downloads because of news cycles and changes in listening habits under work-from-home and shelter-in-place. We have fearful clients who are worried about continuing advertising campaigns because of economic uncertainty. Ninety-percent of our staff work from home, so we face a whole unique set of challenges. On top of that, online harassment has intensified. Because I am a female CEO of a tech podcast network, misogyny has always been an issue. Now, the trolls are doubling down, trying to disrupt our business in a time where hatred is thriving. These anonymous attacks also target our public support of Black Lives Matter and other social causes. We know trolling is par for the course if you’re in the public eye. 


So, what do we do? We focus on positives and keep our eyes on our purpose.


In business, now is the time to be bold, take risks, and be proactive. We immediately reached out to our clients to offer additional value and provide cutbacks to those impacted the most. We did everything we could to help support our business partners to raise brand awareness. Every business we work with stepped up and gave back to their community. The outreach has been incredible, a bright spot in humanity, and we will continue to be part of it.


In the 15 years since inception, TWiT.tv has seen its fair share of ups and downs. 


The network began when Leo Laporte decided to capture the magic he discovered working at TechTV, serving a niche audience. A couple of years in, I joined the network, and Leo and I started our bootstrapped journey together. Few knew what a podcast was, let alone what TWiT stood for. We’ve come a long way, and we are not about to stop. 


The pandemic has allowed us to reevaluate what’s truly important. For us, that's community, equality, diversity, social justice, awareness, kindness, and honesty. 


Friday, March 6, 2020

Artisanal Agency - How We Vet TWiT.tv Clients

Lisa Laporte:  Leo Laporte, Founder TWiT.tv


You may think, as an advertising agency, that we’d automatically take the next sponsor that comes our way.  For Artisanal Agency, however, nothing could be further from the truth. We represent TWiT.tv, a journalist podcast network that strives to report important tech news, help, how-tos, reviews, and more.  Therefore, we heavily vet all potential clients because TWiT values its reputation and only signs advertisers who have high-integrity products/services that benefit the TWiT audience. Based on our 2020 survey, 86% of the TWiT audience made a purchase base on an ad they heard on our network.   

A product/service that does not have an outstanding track record could damage us in a multitude of ways, including viewership, host reputation, and our bottom line. We aren’t interested in lying or have subpar products/services on our network because it will ruin the trust and reputation the TWiT audience has for our hosts and the entire network.  Our listeners are the most important aspect of our business, and we only cater to them. Looking at prospective clients needs to be done with a critical eye, and we are very selective.

One of the ways in which we accomplish this is with our vetting process that starts with a one-sheet, which includes:

A link to the website.
The date it’s prepared - we want to when it was prepared.
Who the founder/CEO is - we want to represent companies with high integrity people and reputable services/products. 
Audience Focus - it’s important to find out if the services/products are geared toward the TWiT audience.
Talking points - this is a short paragraph to provide details of the potential client’s products/services, including pricing, if available.
Reviews - preferably we would like reviews from reputable journalist entities. We do not want information from a publisher who uses sponsored content, we want trusted tech review websites, articles, online reviews, Amazon reviews, etc. 
Who their competitors are because we want to avoid conflicts with existing advertisers.

We take pride in finding the right fit for the TWiT network. Taking on a sponsor is a relationship that we want to cultivate and respect. The only way we can do this is by vetting our clients so that we can be confident that our choice is a good choice.