We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Heather Osgood a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Heather, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?
The first podcast was created and released in 2004. Twenty years later, it’s astounding to see what has changed. Not only was there a podcast boom during the pandemic that led to the creation of millions of podcasts, but the way podcasters create content has changed dramatically. Gone are the days of the podcaster recording in their unfinished basement or closet. Audio is growing into video. YouTube is now the top platform for listening to podcasts. Podcasters can be strong video creators and content creators in general. We’ve entered the age of 360 campaigns, and advertisers want exposure not only on the podcast but also on social, newsletters, and simulcasted YouTube channels.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
In 2016, I founded True Native Media. Having owned and sold prior companies, I used my experience as a launch pad and leaned on that knowledge to build the organization. After selling a company I owned for many years, I had some time to listen to podcasts for the first time in my adult life. Having worked in the advertising industry for years, I was keenly aware of how few ads I heard on the shows I listened to. I did some research and found that, at that time, a podcaster needed at least 50,000 downloads per episode to find advertising representation. I knew that with my experience, I could find advertisers for the thousands of podcasts that were not monetized through advertising. I founded True Native Media to help podcasters continue to do what they do best: create content. I entered the podcast space at an ideal time in the industry and have seen double-digit growth for seven years.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
When targeting a narrow industry, it’s essential to establish a good reputation and a strong presence. Since we were working in the podcast industry, I found it fitting to start a podcast. I launched The Podcast Advertising Playbook because there wasn’t a lot of content available on how to create successful podcast advertising campaigns. With this podcast, I have created a ton of content for social media and our blogs. I’ve also been able to converse with people I usually wouldn’t have a chance to talk to. Posting regular episodes and publicizing them on LinkedIn helped establish me as an industry expert. Starting a podcast for my podcasting business was a great decision.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
True Native Media is a remote organization. We were remote from the get-go, so the pandemic forced everyone to our way of working. It was nice to have our clients move to a video meeting norm. That shift has helped us continue to build strong relationships internally and externally. As a remote team, staying connected and feeling like a team can be challenging. I’ve gone to great lengths to establish sound communication systems for our team. Our favorite tool is Slack. Having your camera on when talking to team members is a company policy. Regular team meetings throughout the week help keep the team feeling united. Our annual team retreat also helps to build unity. Weekly, at our staff meeting, we review our core values and shout out team members who exhibited our core values in the prior week. I’ve been intentionally building a spirit of positivity within the team. That has been helpful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.truenativemedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truenativemedia
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcastadvertising
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLrMBeMSOIlMBSwEejbni2A