When was the last time you listened to a podcast?  Hopefully, it was one of my recent episodes, or one I produced for my clients.  The ongoing growth of this medium (or content platform) is catching the eye of many businesses.  The global news company Reuters has also taken note of surge, as podcasts continue to grow in popularity.  It’s launched a new product to support podcasters.

According to an article by Voicebot.ai, “Reuters added audio-based versions of its expansive news services on Wednesday. The new Reuters Audio and Reuters Ready Audio products provide a direct channel for the news hubs archive of raw and edited audio content, respectively, that podcasts and voice assistant-based news providers can attach to their own output.”

In the last year or so, Apple has unbundled iTunes to make Apple Podcasts a standalone platform.  Google launched Google Podcasts.  Even media giant iHeartRadio jumped into podcast hosting in a big way, now claiming to be #1 for podcasting.  Your target audience is consuming podcasts.  Are you giving them what they want, in a format they prefer?  I can help you to begin doing it.

Jim Ray Consulting Services for Podcasting

Now is the time for you and your business to strongly consider a podcast for your business.  I developed and launched a turn-key podcast production service.  This content platform is leveraging consumer trends related to how the market prefers to digest information.  If you’re not there yet, it may be time for us to schedule a discussion.

You’ve built an immense subject matter expertise in your field be that law, medicine, accounting, real estate or other areas.  The market wants what you know and do.  You’ve earned the right to tell a great story.  Jim Ray Consulting Services is here to make sure more people get to hear it.

I’ve had numerous discussions with clients, including law firms and other businesses, about the impact of fake online reviews.  In fact, I served as an expert witness in a 2018 internet defamation law suit.  My client, the plaintiff’s attorney, secured a $1,500,000 judgement based partly on my pre-trial consulting and subsequent testimony.

A recent podcast about a company that hired a law firm based on what it later claimed were fraudulent online reviews caught my eye this week.  The company claimed family and friends were encouraged to post fake online reviews for the law firm.

Online reviews can have a significant impact on a prospective client’s decision to either hire your company or to avoid you.

Let’s consider 2 issues.  First, generating authentic online reviews.  Second, how impactful are these reviews?

Generating Authentic Online Reviews

As Google, Facebook and other online platforms continue to focus on highlighting online reviews, many companies are rushing to make sure they have them.  Encouraging customers/clients to post online reviews is important.  However, you want to make sure the reviews are authentic.

It’s never a good idea to offer an enticement in return for a positive review.  You’re treading on thin ice.  Depending upon your type of business, you may have professional standards preventing you from engaging in this type of activity.

It’s also not a good idea to provide a computer, in your office or lobby, to encourage client reviews.  You might get flagged if the platform notices a number of your reviews are being generated by a common IP address.  You can however, safely send any client a list of links to various online platforms to enable them to easily rate/review you.

Most importantly, avoid even the thought of paying an individual or group of individuals for online reviews.  They will come across as insincere and may expose you to legal liability.  Now, this is different from companies offering to aggregate existing online reviews and subsequently post them to your website or social media.  The latter is a common industry practice.

How Impactful Are Online Reviews?

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A recent CNBC story caught my attention.

Millennials as a demographic have been the focus of technology and those companies using tech to attract them.

However, this CNBC story featured analyst, Anthony DiClemente, who made a compelling statement. The growth of Internet phone usage will be strongest among baby boomers.  The story focused on healthcare marketing, but the core message extends to many segments.

In my opinion, this has some pretty important marketing implications.

I think you’d agree that there are two items we rarely leave our homes without. The first is our car keys. The second is our phones.

Mobile phone technology offers us a unique opportunity to reach into the lives of consumers in our target markets. Print media is virtually dying on the vine. Television media has been losing steam for quite some time. We are very rapidly approaching a completely on-demand lifestyle.

Think about it. Many of us have had the ability to DVR or TiVo television shows for years. The primary benefit is convenience.  But the real value for many is that we can skip through commercials, thus avoid them altogether.

Cable companies are beginning to unbundle your services because they realize it’s what clients are demanding.  We want what we want, when we want it.

Even Keurig was able to take advantage a niche for on-demand consumption, although this form of consumption is obviously different.  Some haters would argue their Keurig is more valuable than the article you’re reading.  I’d counter they’re complementary.  (Pause to take another sip between paragraphs.)

Many of the companies I worked with early on were extremely hesitant to jump online as part of their marketing strategy. They viewed the Internet as something the younger kids were using, namely those without enough money to hire them or buy their services.  That mindset is rapidly changing.

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Have you begun your business planning for 2018? If you’re looking for a few places to start, I’d like to offer some recommendations.  The process of putting together a detailed plan is what I refer to as The 2018 Business Imperative.  There’s an old adage, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”  Quite frankly, we work too hard to let that be the case.

Note:  This article was originally published in the Louisville Bar Briefs (December 2018, edition, page 20)

Performing a deep dive into your key metrics, not just revenue numbers, will show you things you may have missed during the year.  Outliers are one thing, but identifying specific trends and comparing them to the assumptions you made at the start of 2017 can be quite telling.  Nonetheless, this is simply a post-mortem.  It’s historical.  We need to turn our attention to the upcoming year.

There are new markets emerging, new technologies to help you and new capabilities you’ve developed, even if it’s just because you’re a year more experienced than you were.  How can you leverage these changes (this evolution) in terms of your business as well as your clients’ businesses?  That’s the essence of effective, business planning.

Where will you invest in 2018?  I recommend you divide this into 2 key areas:  Money and Time.  In terms of your financial investment, it usually can be broken out into personnel, training and equipment.  As for your time, take a hard look at your processes.  Are you actually spending the majority of your time on the activities that generate the most cash?  If so, continue the DIY approach.  If not, it may be time to consider outsourcing or delegating.  For most of us, letting go of the reins can be one of our greatest challenges.  Remember, this may be the very decision that’s been holding us back from achieving significant progress.

One important question I’ve often asked clients is:  What are you willing to put down on paper?

In terms of business planning, I’m trying to get you to consider defining those goals, actions, activities and changes that will significantly impact your business in 2018.  More importantly, I want you to define for yourself those issues you’re willing to actually commit to, on paper.

Something interesting happens when we actually write it down.  We begin the process of visualizing the goal(s), as well as the steps necessary to achieve them.  Like any road trip, you have to begin with the destination in mind.

It’s interesting how many people don’t take their business planning to this logical step.  It’s almost as if they’re afraid of committing, because that creates the risk that they may fail in the endeavor.  Can I share a secret?  There are really only 3 outcomes in this process:

• Growth
• Stagnation
• Irrelevance

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