How to Get EVERYONE Talking About Your Podcast - PR Tactics with Jessy Marshall

Transcribed from the episode audio, so you might spot the odd typo.

Jessy: Jessy Marshall, you are the founder of Hive HQ, and you have worked with so many brands that I know people listening will just have in their cupboard, like Bangin' Body, BOOV, The Breakout Hack.

Alycia: N- uh, you actually were part of the original crew who launched Naked Sundays

Jessy: Yeah

Alycia: Well- Mm-hmm which is so exciting, and I know people listening will be like, "Okay, cool. Why are we talking to someone about PR?" But I think there's so many strategies that you've done for these massive launches that have got so many people talking about the products. Mm-hmm. Right? And with PR, we've spoken before, we've got an incredible episode that I'll pop in the show notes around getting media attention, but where I wanna focus with you today is about getting people to talk about you.

Because if you can get people to talk, like, that's the best tool to grow your podcast. There's so much data around it now as well, that building that hype, getting people excited, getting them to share it, is the best way that you can grow. So welcome to How Do I Podcast? Thank

Jessy: You so much for having me, and I'm excited to chat.

Alycia: Now, when I was going through your bio, before we get into everything, anything else I need to know about Khloe

Jessy: Oh my gosh. I mean, like any celebrity, I feel like we've worked with so many. Um- And it's, I guess, a goal when you're a publicist to kind of like get your product to the Kardashians. And look, there's been so many Australian brands that obviously have. Um, and like anything, just keep trying and hopefully they upload. Yeah. I mean, Naked Sundays, we still work with them today. Um, it's an incredible product and story, and Sam, the founder, is incredible herself. Um, so that was just one of those moments, I guess, that was just luck.

Alycia: That's so good. And was it something where you just kept sending it and then eventually

Jessy: Yeah, and we do this a lot with a lot of our brands, and I think the one thing that I like to say about a publicist is they're kind of like a salesman...in that we don't take no for an answer. It's like, let's just keep trying until they say yes. Yeah. So that's the perfect example of like send it, send it again, see what happens, hope for the best. And then also once something goes live, milking it for all that it's worth. So what can you get? Like, don't just let that be that one moment that lives on social media, on her stories, that then disappears after 24 hours.

What can you do to make that grow- Yeah... so that then it is something that people continually talk about time and time again?

Alycia: And we're gonna talk about all of this and how it can relate to a podcast as well,...because I see this all the time. I myself is so guilty of this, in that you have this amazing episode with this incredible guest. Cool, okay, maybe you post a reel and then, like, that's the end of the story- Yes... when there's so much more you can leverage to do that, which is really exciting. So there's almost two parts to this that I wanna talk about. One is like building that hype and getting people excited about talking about you, and then the other is kind of like referrals, 'cause I think that's also important to touch on.

Yeah. When we look at some of the activations that you've done, like for BOOF is probably the one that comes first to mind because that was just, I feel, everywhere across everyone's feed last year-

Jessy: Yeah...

Alycia: Both the, the women's version and focus of it, and then like a couple months later you followed up with the men's version which just superseded it all again. Yeah. So tell me, when you're starting to plan out an activation or a launch, what sort of things are you looking at?

Jessy: Yeah, great question. I think this also comes down to how long you have to plan. Yeah. Um, and I think sometimes when you've got a PR team, you don't necessarily always have, you know, months on end to kind of work on that. In Boof's case in particular, we did have a very long lead time because we'd already worked with the brand for a number of years prior, um, with their sister brands, the Breakout Hack and Boost- Booth Lab, I should say. so we actually had been working behind the scenes on the brand for about 12 months before anybody kind of knew about it.

So during that time we actually went into, like, brainstorming who was the ambassador gonna be. Obviously, you know now that it was Indie Clinton, but before that there was a, a, whole list that we kind of, like, went through, had multiple conversations with, started trialing, making sure that they were getting results. So in the background, like, that was kind of all happening. Then when we've landed on it's Indie, in this case, how do we wanna launch? It's kind of like bringing that person in, having a discussion about how they would also like to launch it. She's obviously come on in a much bigger way than just a typical ambassadorship.

So it was really about making sure that she felt comfortable with everything that we were doing too. Yeah. And then off the back of that, it's working out our media stories, our events, um, what other influencers we're actually gonna work with. So Booth was a very unique, uh, partnership because we'd obviously been working with the brand, um, for much longer. Yeah. If it was any other brand and, say, someone came knocking right now, I would normally say we've probably got, like, six to eight weeks before a launch- Yeah... generally speaking, where we plan that out. And it's the same. We go, "Okay, who's our ambassador? Can we start having those negotiations? Uh, is there more from a paid talent perspective that we can leverage here?

What does the event look like?" So it's the same, but Booth was just super unique because we had, you know, 12 months behind the scenes that we were working on it.

Alycia: Yeah, and I wanna talk about this because it can relate to a podcast launch, a podcast rebrand, but also podcast events. Like, all three...of those things can utilize these strategies that you've had there. For anyone who didn't see the Boof activations and, like, the launch of the product, can you talk to us about what that was like?

Jessy: Oh my gosh, it was such a whirlwind. I think as well when you're behind the scenes but you know what's coming-

Alycia: It's

Jessy: Hard to navigate your next step because...it's very much based on the consumer at that moment. Initially, we- they were obviously teasing it, um, as like a, "What's coming? Nobody knows. Who's our ambassador?" And then seeing what the consumer's response is, and then going, "Okay, what's our next step here?" Now, that's obviously all content-driven. Yeah But in the background, we're also working with media- media on testing the product, educating them on what the product was, telling them what, when the launch date was, sharing who the ambassador was.

All of that was all behind the scenes and under embargo. Yeah. So you're kind of navigating, um, a multitude of things- Yeah... during that moment, and it's kind of just, uh, I like to say a little bit chaotic because you're just rolling with it. You're just running and then also pivoting if you need to. Yeah. Um, so sometimes you can have the best strategy, but it also might mean you might totally ch- change direction. Yeah,

Alycia: Yeah, and you just, like, make it up on the fly. What were the actual events like? If you can kind

Jessy: Describe

Alycia: The vibe of those.

Jessy: Yeah, lots of fun. We did so many. So we actually started with a event on the Gold Coast, which was influencer-based. Um, it started actually as a hair wash and blow-dry event so people could, like, test immerse in the actual product. Yeah. And then they went to lunch afterwards. Then we did another one in Melbourne, which was a dinner, and that was just very intimate. That was all education. That was so that they could really get, um, a very good insight into the founder, Rachel, as well as Inde. So that was a completely different setting. They obviously didn't test and trial the products. Yeah. The product had already launched at that point as well.

And then we did consumer, uh, which was at a shopping center. It was a meet and greet, and that was all for anyone that was a fan of Inde or maybe a fan of, you know, Rachel and wanting to meet, um, the founder, who could come get a sample of the product, do a meet and greet, and kind of like move on. Um, that was very, like, retail-focused. So, like, all of those moments are so different. You've got one that's, like, for the community. You've got one that's for the influencer or media that's more education-based, and then you've got one that's, like, test and trial. Yeah.

Now, when we're talking about, like, launching a podcast, I think the difference here is we don't necessarily have a product, as in, like, a physical product that you can test and trial. However, I've always thought that if someone was going to do or launch a, a podcast, you could do it live. Mm. You could quite literally, like, have the audience listen in, get a first take...before it actually goes live, you know, on, on Spotify or wherever you're putting your podcast.

Yeah. Um, that would be something that I would say that could relate so that you could obviously still give them a piece of the product. Right. They're just not necessarily going home and using it, but, like,...same take. In terms of like eventing

Alycia: Yeah, and, uh, that, I love the idea and the concept of live podcasts. Like, not even live as in, like, you're hosting event and all these people are coming, but, like, live podcasting in general. Like, imagine if we were doing this live right now, and I feel like a lot of the world is going to pivot this way, where, like, guests can literally, like, write in. Like, you stream it on, like, Twitch or, like, YouTube or something like that- Yeah... and be like, "Hey, Jessy, I wanna know this," and, like, you're answering questions. That feels so fun and- Yeah...so

Jessy: Super interactive. Yeah...Yeah,

Alycia: And so for a launch, I love that idea. I think as well, a lot of people won't have necessarily thought about the fact that, like, there's all this work before a launch about building- Mm-hmm attention and... hype. Like, a lot of people are like, "Okay, cool. I'm gonna launch a podcast. I'm just gonna get these amazing guests, and I'm gonna put it out there." But, like, something that I, again, I never knew the term until I did research for this episode, but, like, PR seeding. So, like, feeding that to PR pieces- Yeah to say, "Hey, this is coming out on this date. This is what it's about. This is what we're covering." I think a lot of people would probably think, "I'll launch this podcast, and then all of a sudden I'll just get media attention." Yeah. Like, it will happen, but that's- No, you have to-... sort of pre-planned... plan

Jessy: It Yeah. And it is all pre-planned, as in even to the point of, so for any launch, I'm looking at, okay, what is the... what do I think is gonna be the media angle here? And if I don't have one, how am I going to get one? So what's my hook? What's my headline? Who's that going to? Where is it sitting? So

Alycia: Let's use

Jessy: Let's use a podcast launch as an example. If you had me on today, I'd be going, "Okay, has Jessy ever, um, been in media before? Who's written about her? How can I tell this editor that she's gonna be on this podcast, and what did she say that feels aligned with how they write?" Now, that might not be right. Let's say I've been in Mama Mia before, but the podcast might, like our podcast today might not relate to Mama Mia.

Um, however, does Mama Mia have a, you know, a podcast section that we could pitch this to of like the top 10 places that they need to be listening?

Alycia: Mm.

Jessy: So it's kind of getting a bit creative or, or just like kind of backtracking. Now say I didn't have any media experience, I hadn't actually shown up in media before. No one's ever written about me. I'm just an expert in my field, and you've decided to put me on. Yeah.

Alycia: Yeah.

Jessy: I'd then be like, "Okay, but what did this expert say that was so groundbreaking- Take that n- news bite- Yeah... to media.

Alycia: Yeah. Yeah, and a lot of people, again, they would think that the journalists are scraping, something goes viral, they find that, but it's all pushed through that. Like- Yeah... and if you're feeding them stories,... like that is their number one goal, right? Like, they need to write every single day. They need to find a newsworthy thing. It might not happen, but if you're like constantly just, you know, sliding things in, shooting a shot, it might happen as well. Yeah.

Jessy: Also, like in most cases, like sure, media can just pick stuff up, but it's generally only if you've got that platform. So like an Indie Clinton, she's got the awareness, she's got the visibility- Yeah, true...they're watching her, so they're seeing things.

Alycia: Things. Yeah.

Jessy: Um, so if the person doesn't have a platform or you don't have a platform, make the platform. So what was like the soundbite that they said, and take that news hook and give it to them. Give them a preview of the podcast before the podcast goes live. "Hey, this is dropping next week. I just wanted to give you a heads up. They said XYZ might be of interest."

Alycia: Mm. Yes, I love this. And like, this doesn't have to be crazy, right? Like, you don't have to go out to media. This literally could be your social media angle. If you're sitting down and you're thinking about your episode, like the second you finish, what we're getting all of our clients to do now is like voice note us, record like what were the standout moments, what were the parts that you love, what also do you want to take out?

But like what are the things that you love from that conversation? 'Cause that can help you then create the reels. Yeah. Like, you know your community and your audience better than anybody else. Yeah. So if you're thinking about that, genius.

Jessy: I think another thing you spoke about seeding, which I think is really interesting, um, I'm trying to think of her name, the triangle.

Alycia: Oh, yep. Um-

Jessy: Erin Deering.

Alycia: Yes

Jessy: She speaks about how, you know, she wanted the, um, I think it was Kylie Jenner, so like in this, in the instance of like I wanted, um, Khloe Kardashian, she wanted, um, Kendall or Kylie and couldn't get her, so she ceded to all her friends within that same community. Same thing, you want a

Alycia: Podcast

Jessy: Podcast guest to come on, or you've got a podcast guest on, who else can you share it with who's in their community? Like, who else can you find that is like-minded to like share that with in hope that they also maybe like share about the podcast, um, on their stories, maybe they talk about it on their TikTok. Is there, you know, a marketing girly who is talking about all of these podcasts and you wanna be in the mix of that?

Send it to her, tell her what's happening. So it's kind of just like finding other people that are very like-minded- Yeah... or within that community that you can also share that with. Um, they don't have to have the biggest of followings, but they could have a very, very strong community and voice.

Alycia: Yeah. And I think, like, you will be worse than I am in that we just get flooded with pitches now. So before we go into anything more tac- tactical, like every pitch that I see at the moment is, has some form of AI component in it. Oh, dear. Like, hardly

Jessy: Single-... killing me... one person.

Alycia: I'm like, honestly, like, "But it's not this, it's this." And it just, it's driving me crazy. So if you're going to do this and you're going to reach out to someone, how would you suggest they do that so they actually capture their attention?

Jessy: Yeah, good, great question. Oh, the AI stuff is killing me at the moment. I'm like, "Did no one just reread this before they press send?"

Alycia: Seriously, it's so hard.

Jessy: Oh, it's so hard. Uh, look, and I say this to the girls in the office all the time whenever we're like hitting media, um, with something new, because like they're also getting just as much,...um, in their inbox. We all are. We're getting more and more every single day because it's becoming a lot faster to obviously like- AI

Alycia: To do it....You send out like 200 in a day- Yeah... and it's like, great

Jessy: Or in like a minute, you know? Like it's, it's just getting s- we're getting so much, um, incoming just as much as we're outgoing. I would always say personalize it,...keep it short, and just get straight to the point. I also think the best thing, and I think you did a really good job of just even like outreaching to me, it was like, "Hi, I've seen this, I really like this. I've got a podcast. Would you come on?" So you kind of like related it to something that you had obviously seen that really piqued your interest- Mm...and then you outreached, so you gave me something relatable.

Um, or yeah, you just felt interested, and I think sometimes that's what the AI lacks is like it didn't- Yeah...it didn't see that. Well,

Alycia: It's self-serving. Yeah. Like, I think, and we teach this all the time, I've got, like a download of all of the messages that we send. I'll pop that in the show notes if you haven't seen it. But, like, we will always look at what's in it for you. Like, you're giving up your time to be here, so, like, what's the clips that you're gonna get out of this?

How is this gonna benefit...and help people- Yeah...in the PR industry, as well as obviously helping people in podcasting. Yeah. 'Cause otherwise if I reach out to you, you'd be like, "What? Podcast? I mean, I had a podcast once, but, like, how is this relevant?" So like, it's telling you the story that we wanna tell as well. Yeah,

Jessy: Absolutely. So yeah, I think it's twofold. I think- Always, um, you know, try and make it personal, but also...cut to the chase. Yeah. You know how many messages you get. I know how many messages I get. I don't have hours on end to, like, read it. So the faster you can capture my attention, the better. yeah. Um, also, don't be afraid to follow up. I think sometimes we are so busy, so, uh, you know, I look at an email, I'm like, "I'll loop back to that," and then you just don't. Yeah. So also- reach back out and be like, "Hi, just checking in on the below."

Like, you know, fair enough if you've done that three times, maybe it's time to, like move on. Yeah. However,...don't be afraid to also, like follow up. As I said, I think at the beginning, you know, I think PRs are very good, like sales agents in that we don't take no for an answer. We find another way. So be that person to find another way, but also, you know, err on the side of caution when doing that too.

You don't wanna be a pest.

Alycia: Yeah, of course. And like there's that fine balance, but I think, you know, it- we have spoken to Nathan Chan, Danny Kennedy, they've both had incredible guests on. Yeah. And even like Nathan tells the story about how he got Richard Branson on the podcast, and with that one, it was just like finding that other way. It was finding the EA instead of doing this outreach method, or finding like, you know, a friend over here that could sometimes, like weave them in. And like setting that date in your calendar- Mm-hmm... like six months' time, like okay, don't do it all in three days...' cause that's slightly insane. Mm. But like six months, 12 months, like if you're just continuing to reach out, you never know-

Jessy: Yeah And also get creative, as you just said, like find the EA or whatever it is. If you also know the address of the person, like, I don't know,...send them something bold, like get creative. I think, oh my gosh, her name was um, Ivy Mullins. She was a TikTok marketing, kind of like genius. She used to do like, "Oh, I think this is a marketing win for a brand."

Alycia: Yeah.

Jessy: She really wanted a job, and I've forgotten the brand now. I wanna say it was like Pizza or Domino's or something. Anyway, she... I'll try and find it and I'll send...you the link to her TikTok. She basically really wanted this, like marketing job, so instead of just like sending her CV, she delivered it in a pizza box, and I was like, "That's, that's genius." Like, that's just showing that you'll like, just wanna go that extra mile, a cut above the rest. She took the time to then get noticed, so sometimes it's, it's about that. What can you do to get noticed? Yeah. Be bold.

Alycia: Yeah, absolutely. There was a startup, I cannot remember the name of it, but they were looking for funding and they sent everything on a cake, and it was just like delivered to the office, this big thing. Everyone took photos of it then as well,...so it was like creating this moment that was then shared everywhere, which I wanna talk about that because I think, like something, again, huge missed opportunity that myself included am going to focus on, is looking and treating every episode almost like a product launch.

'Cause that's what we're doing here. Like, it's not just, "Oh, surprise, there's a new episode," and hoping that people can find it. If you wanna grow, if you want something that is like genuinely gonna create noise and attention, you need to be doing things before it launches...and afterwards as well. So let's start with like the before. When you're teasing something, when you're creating hype for "

Like, This episode is dropping," what is the things you think that people can do beforehand?

Jessy: Yeah, so timeframe is one thing that I'm really cautious of, 'cause you don't wanna tease t- for too long. Yeah. So I'm always like, "You've got probably 10 days- Before people are like, "Okay, cut to the chase." Yeah Like, "Drop the episode or drop the product." " Like, Whatever it is, tell us." So that f- like, first port of call is, like, how long have we got? And, uh, like, let's, like, count down from that. Obviously, from a podcast perspective, you'll have all of your content that you're able to obviously, like, tease, drop, make sure that the community's obviously, like, getting involved, asking questions, et cetera.

But also, as I said, making sure that your guests or whoever it is that you've had on, um, is also kind of like, uploading, driving people to that. Mm-hmm. I think that's really important and, like, quite an easy way. Then depending on how much, let's say budget or additional things that you could do, you could absolutely, seed that out to more people. If you wanna do that in a creative way, such as a cake- Yeah... go for it. Um, if you can't, then it's just about sharing it with that community.

I think that is something that is just so overlooked. We're often wanting to build, you know, our EDM list, or we're often wanting to build, like, followers, but, like, how are we engaging with those followers, and how can we make them take it to that next level? Yeah. So is it sending a voice note DM being like, "Oh my gosh, I think I've got an episode for you. It's from blah, blah, blah."

Like, it could be as easy as that. Yeah. But that, just having that, like, personalized touch where it feels like you've really thought about that community- Yeah... um, in the lead-up I think is really important and could be done, you know, at a deeper level than just, like, sharing to stories and hoping people

Alycia: Fingers crossed Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like, there's nothing I hate more, it was like you just post the story with the text on it and you just expect that people will go and find the podcast and love it. Like, you've gotta, one, be hyper-specific with the stuff that you put in there, but there's so many other opportunities. Yeah. I love those ideas. I think people will get a lot of ideas potentially from hearing what you've done to tease products or tease events before in the past. So can you tell us some of the ones that stand out in your mind that you've loved?

Jessy: Oh, teasing's so hard because I think a lot of what we do is from, in a publisher sense, is always behind the scenes, and no one really sees it. Um, also in a lot of the time, depending on, like, what it is that we're, uh, working on, there's an embargo. So as in,...if I'm pitching to media, I'm like, "Oh, the embargo isn't lifting until the 1st of September,"

So therefore they can't actually even, like, talk about it beforehand. Um, so that, like, teasing is so hard because a lot of it is, you know, like, this silent discussion that's happening behind the scenes. Yeah. Even from an influencer standpoint, we generally don't send things out unless we're happy for them to be shared because of that reason, unless they've, like, signed an NDA or we're in a negotiation. Yeah.

Um, but if we are just organically sending, we're really only sending from launch onwards because- We want the product to be live for them to actually, like, purchase

Alycia: Of course, you don't wanna waste the opportunity. Yeah. Yeah,

Jessy: Totally. Um, so otherwise I would just say, uh, it's all content-driven, and generally speaking, that is from, like, the marketing teams that we're kinda, like, working with that are coming up with the concept Mm If we see something from that that we think is really, like, newsworthy or could be leveraged more, that's when we kind of like dive into that tease aspect. But we're generally s- yeah, working alongside, I guess, the marketing team on, like, content- Yeah... and what that, like, kind of looks like- Yeah... as opposed to actually, like, generating it-

Alycia: Have there been any, like, things that the marketing teams have done that have stood out in your mind as well as, like, really cool? 'Cause I remember, like, I've seen some content, and again, all the brands blend together. Mm. But they'll be like, you know, just teasing something. It might be, like, the corner of something, and they're kind of getting people to guess what it could be that's coming up.

And in the podcast world, we see this so often. You know, you'll have, like, Call Her Daddy, iconic for it. They'll have, like, the thing on the

Jessy: She's so iconic for it

Alycia: So good, and I'm always, every week I'm like, "What is it?" Um- Yeah... and a

Jessy: Like- The little Easter eggs Yeah.

Alycia: So is there anything you've seen there that

Jessy: People can take as well? Mm. Yeah. Oh gosh, so many times I think I've seen this. I think there was... Oh my god, what's the brand? I can literally see. Oh, Tower 28- Yes... um, they actually did it heaps in the lead-up to their launch. Like, girls literally holding the product,...but, like, not necessarily showing the brand- Yeah...just, like, using it. Like, just spraying it, and people were like, "What is this?" Like, body spray. People, I think, initially guessed that it was a fragrance.

Mm. It obviously wasn't. It was for, um, body breakouts, et cetera. But I think, like, that's a really good way, but I'm trying to think how I would relate that to a podcast. It could be that you looked at, um, merch, So,

Alycia: So,

Jessy: Like, whether it was, like, a hat...or whether it was, like, a shirt, and, like, that person, if they had a profile, continually, like, uploading with the shirt or uploading with the hat,...without yet saying, "There's a podcast coming." Yeah. Um, I feel like that could be a really cool way that you could tease that there was, like, something coming- Yeah. and being like, "What is that?"

Like, What is that continuous wear that you're continually wearing for, like, the last, you know, two weeks?" Yeah. "Why do you keep wearing this shirt?" Yeah. Could be actually a good way to, like, create conversation, uh, for sure. But I think a lot of brands, I would say, are doing, yeah, as you said, like on Call Her Daddy, where she's, like, putting something within sight. Um, a great way to tease is, yes, having something physical that you can showcase...without totally revealing what it is.

Alycia: Yeah, and I think it can also be as simple as, like, just sharing the journey. Like, if you're launching a podcast- Yes like brand new launching a podcast, and heaps of people I've seen the commentary on this, they'll be like, " Oh, is it a new product? Is it a new..." Like, especially if a founder with an existing brand is...launching something. Yeah. Everyone's guessing all the different things that it could be. Yeah. Even, like, the founders that we've worked with that haven't necessarily had products, they're a service-based business, and everyone's like, "You're launching this.

You're gonna do this." But it's a podcast, and so it's those little things that you can tease of, like, jumping on a plane, going to do this- Yeah... um, that I think is really fun. I do think something that's really important that you've mentioned there is, like, the length of time because, you know, if we're creating so much hype, if I'm talking today, which I, like, I, I will talk about the podcast I'm recording today, but if they're not coming out for three or four weeks, like, people will kind of forget about it- Yes in that time. So you can take a heap of content and just save that to

Jessy: For post. Uh, bank it. Yeah. Yeah. Even at the moment, I know I said to you, um, offline and now we're online, um, I'm launching a brand,...and I'm very cautious of, like, how long am I going to, you know,...drop this Easter egg until we actually launch? 'Cause there's a number of things, as you know, that, like, go into the plan, like manufacturing. When does that arrive? What does the- how long does the packaging take? And it's like, if I tease that out 18 months before,...you know, like, when the end i- ideas started to, like, actually when you physically launch, it's a really long time.

So yeah, I would say to you timing is, like, so crucial 'cause you don't wanna, like- people to lose interest. Okay. I think, you know, four weeks, if it was, like, brand new, nothing ever seen before, um, then I'd be like, "Okay, yeah, start telling your story, how you got there, why you started it,...who your upcoming guests are," so that there is that hype and interest, and taking people on the journey.

Four weeks, absolutely. Um, obviously, that's a whole lot, um, longer than just, like, an episode drop, because I feel like the consumer at the moment really wants to understand, like, how you got here- Mm......why you got here, what's your reason. So absolutely take them on the journey. Yeah. You'll get more buy-in.

Alycia: Yeah. And I don't know if you saw it, there was this bar down in Melbourne last year, Gracie's. Mm. I think it was Gracie's Wine Room. Yeah. And we had her on a podcast for a client, and her story is phenomenal, but, like, she shared

Jessy: Everything. Everything.

Alycia: But talking to her, a lot of that was live in t- like real time, but some of that was exactly what you're saying, in that you film it.

Alycia: You'll know this 'cause you'll see, like, activewear brands do it. They'll be like, "Here's the drawings, here's the sketch," and then all of a sudden this collection's out. They're launching. Yeah. It's like that is, you know, at least six months in the process, if not longer. Yeah. But it feels like a couple of weeks, and they're building that momentum. So I think, like, don't restrict yourself to the actual timeframes- Mm... and definitely don't follow them.

Yeah.

Jessy: Yeah. Yeah, Rachel Wilde, who we obviously work with, who has, um, the Breakout Hack, and now obviously Boof, she did that, and we banked obviously all that content. I think we teased it for about eight weeks, just because there was so much happening between all of the businesses at the time. Um, and it was a real hard one because she has a public profile, and so the minute that she started teasing, I remember getting so many incoming requests like, What's Rachel working on?

What's she doing?" I was like, "We're not ready. Give me time. I will loop back on this." Uh, which was, like, so fine and, like, fun and, like, good to see. Like, there was, like, this huge amount of interest. Um, but yeah, absolutely, take people on the journey. I think they're more and more interested now than ever before. Also, we kinda spoke about AI before, we're trying to also, like- We're really leaning into those, you know, real relationships. So where you can lean into real more and more, I think the greater that that audience is gonna actually buy in.

Alycia: Yeah. And people love having things to talk about- Mm...which I think comes into the next part, is like, okay, we've got this episode that's gone out. So we've been teasing it, hyping it, getting people excited, it's dropped. What would you do to then generate conversation there?

Jessy: Yeah, great. So we're finally live, thank the Lord. We can actually start talking about it. Anyone that we've been, like, pre-seeding that to, so as in we- we've DM'd some people, maybe we've pitched to media, let's now follow up because it's actually physically live. So in the sense of, like, a beauty product, I'm quite literally sending them imagery, I'm sending them the RRP, the link to the website, because it's, like, physically there, whereas before it wasn't.

Yeah. So I would say in this instance, exactly the same You're going to send them the podcast link because it's now officially live, and then you're also going to watch audience interaction. So you've put your reel live, you've had some, like, huge engagement on it, maybe someone's commented. You're also gonna pitch that to media. So it gives you, like, a second angle. You've done the angle of, "We've got this podcast guest. She's come on. These are the news bites." Now that the content is live, maybe it's going viral, maybe you've had, I don't know, some rogue comment that you can kind of like um, flick the switch on. You're then gonna loop back and be like, "Hi, we're now live.

This is what we've seen, and this is what the community is now saying about this episode." 'Cause there might be something, like, super newsworthy in that. And obviously, again, you can't pre-plan that,...but you know, or at least your publicist should know in that moment, okay, we're gonna watch what audience sentiment is, and from here we're then gonna pitch it. Yeah. With a beauty product, generally I'm also looking at, like, reviews, so you could do the...exact same thing from a podcast. It's like, "This podcast got five-star reviews and this is what the audience is saying." So, like, using that as another lever- Yeah...um, particularly across that, like, yeah, 7 to 10 days post-launch.

That's what we're kind of, like, looking at in those moments. Yeah.

Alycia: And two parts to this. Like, those links, those sending of the episode is now live, that can all be done by ManyChat. So, like, that's not scary, that doesn't have to be difficult. You just need the system set up. If you need help with that, message me, 'cause I'll-...

Jessy: Happy to set it

Alycia: That, 'cause it really needs to be done. Um, but yeah, that is so easy to do now. The second part of that is, like, generating those reviews. Okay, cool, send it to media, but also just put it on your stories. Because if you see someone's stories and they're like, "This episode was incredible, I learned all of this," you're gonna be like, "Oh. Oh, I need to listen to that."

Like, you're almost doing two things. You're creating the FOMO, but you're also building that trust from someone else who's listened. It's not the host saying, "This is the best episode ever," it's some person who's listened and got value from

Jessy: It. Yeah. And then the other thing I would also say, so, like, let's say, I don't know, another influencer uploads about the podcast-

Alycia: Mm

Jessy: On their stories. Maybe they're, like, talking to camera, and you think that you can, like, green-screen that, answer a question. Like, how can you use that content? Kind of like what I said about Khloe Kardashian before. If she uploads and it only has 24 hours, how can you make that content live on? Mm. So sure, you can repost it to stories, but that, too, is also going to, like, disappear within 24 hours.

So what can you do with that piece of content to squeeze the lemon

Alycia: Yes. tell us. Okay, Tell us all the things. Tell us

Jessy: What can you do? Can you do the green screen? Can you answer the question? Can you, um, like, stitch it? What can you do? Like, at any moment when anything goes live, when any product starts to go viral, I'm like, "Okay, what are we doing now?" Mm. And look, sometimes there's a moment where it's like n- there's nothing that we can do here, just, like, let it ride, ride it out, and, like, that's also fine. But there are many moments where it's like, no, we can actually do more content here to leverage further. Does it give us another media angle? 'Cause then we can pitch that back out.

So it's just this, like- I just forever, when anything goes live, I'm like, "Is there anything more we can do here?" Mm. And if there's not, fine, move on. But if there is, then action that.

Alycia: And even, like, replying the comments. Like, I've seen, some of the most successful content that I've seen in the last couple of months is someone has commented something, whether it's positive or negative, in most instances it's been that negative comment- Yeah and they're like, "Well, actually, hey, like, let's break this down." Yeah. Let's

Jessy: Have a conversation about it. Yeah.

Alycia: Let's have a conversation about it. Yeah. And that then gets picked up, and everyone's like, " Oh, what are they actually talking about?" Yeah. So it's really cool. You mentioned reviews there. Yeah. You, obviously, a, a huge strategy to getting people to trust and love new products is collecting reviews. Do you have any advice for someone trying to get people talking and, you know, doing reviews as well?

Jessy: Yeah. Um, a lot of our, uh, brands do trial teams beforehand, which is, like, something that they obviously do to, to garner reviews. You could probably do the exact same thing...from a, like, pod perspective for sure. I would also, like, run a competition. Like, what can you do to benefit the person that's obviously, like, doing the review for you? 'Cause it is obviously their time. So yeah, what can you do to kind of, like, get that testimonial? Um, so I would just be like, yeah, kind of like you're saying was, like, what's the benefit of having the guest on? It's kind of like, okay, what's the benefit for the person that's doing the review, and how can that, like, better incentivize them?

So whatever you can kind of, like do to, like, incentivize them in the best way.

Alycia: Yeah. We're about to, for a couple of our podcasts, launch a strategy that I saw last year, which was genius. Every time they had a guest on that had a product or a service, they'd run a collaboration with them- Yeah... and they'd do a giveaway. And it could literally be like a $50 thing, but people love free stuff. And so they're commenting because they want the free stuff, but then they also get sent the link to the podcast, and like the growth from that strategy completely exploded it. Yeah. So I think, again, coming back to, yes, you can just ask for a review, but if you give them an incentive or a reason to do it.

And then when you've collected those reviews, what do you usually do with them?

Jessy: So majority of the reviews that we're obviously getting are sitting live on their website, and I'm using that for media. So it might be, like,...for Bang & Body recently, they launched a, um, shower firming oil, and we used the reviews. We're like, you know, over 900 five-star reviews, "This is what the consumers are saying," and then pulling, like, "It made me feel like this. This is incredible." So that's how we're kind of using it from, like, a news, um, perspective.

Alycia: Yeah

Jessy: You could use that in social content too, to be completely honest. It's like founder cl- founder says that they've got like 900 reviews and actually like physically showing them on a green screen. So yeah, we're using it from like a media hook authority perspective, but like you could use that in a myriad of ways, for sure.

Alycia: We had Simon Bid on a couple of weeks ago, and he was talking about advertising and like how important it would be or how beneficial it would be to run paid campaigns for a podcast. Like, that is perfect top of funnel content. And again, you're building...trust. Like everyone's like, "Oh my God, all these people are saying this?" Yeah. Like, "I better check it out too." Yeah.

Jessy: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's

Alycia: Really cool. Okay, so we've touched on this a little bit, but I do wanna dive into it specifically. Podcast has gone live, we've built the hype, we've told everyone about it. What can you do after it's gone live? Like say attention's died down and we're wanting to like bring it back up. With a podcast you do have an episode every week. Yeah. But is there any other strategies you'd do like post-launch of a product- Mm that could potentially transfer across?

Jessy: Yeah. Seeding, and for this I would actually get really creative. We spoke about like the cake with the, um, wording on it. What can you do just to get the... 'Cause like you obviously have a guest each week, I would then bring it back to brand. What's the podcast? How are we getting people to know that they need to be listening every single week, and how can you remind them of that?

So it's not necessarily then leaning on the guest, it's l- like actually leaning on brand. So come back to brand and like what can you do continually for brand? So, you know, like diary of a CEO, I'd be like, "Okay cool, like are we sending out diaries to anyone and everyone?" So

Alycia: That Yeah

Jessy: That's like the, the merch that's kind of like rolling around. So try and get creative. Obviously, I, I also appreciate that like budget can sometimes come into this, so that's like sky the limit if you can obviously afford in those initial stages. But I would then look to seed and just like seed as much as possible with something that is like tangible, that can be like seen, used, and- continually reminded, so like for Diary of a CEO being a diary.

Um, or I always find perishable send outs do really well- Yeah... like- love food...like the cake. Yeah, people love food. Um, so how can you, like, yeah, bring that in to your brand so that, like, you just get that instant gratification and that instant upload so that people see it. Yeah. People love food. People generally upload about food. It's very like, you know, topical, easy. Easy. Yeah. So, like, yeah, what could you do? So if you don't, if you can't, you know, afford the diaries, like can you afford a few cakes or whatever it might be...to send out to, you know, either it's an upcoming guest, or is it a potential advertiser, or is it, you know, just like finding like someone within your community, just getting like really tailored as to like who it is that you're trying to target, who's the demographic.

Alycia: And building that community aspect as well,...like, all merch, cakes, amazing, all of those things, you could potentially even just, like, have something that belongs to that community. Like, I've seen, again, Art Smart Riches is an example I use all the time. They had a WhatsApp group when they first started the

Jessy: Yeah.

Alycia: And that sense of community and everyone wanting to be in there and, like, starting the threads and, like, yeah, they'll post about the episode, but there's all the chat that goes in and the connections that go in. Yeah. You know, I've seen other podcasts start a walking group, and it's like for the listeners of- Oh, wow the podcast, yeah, it's like every Monday or, like, once a month on a Monday, um, come together. You know you're like-minded 'cause you're listening to the same podcast.

Mm-hmm. So there's, um, the Bre- Brand Dome has been so clever for this as well of, like, connecting those people in that community. Yeah. And you can look to those big podcasts. It doesn't have to be crazy to start out. Something that we didn't touch on with launches that I've seen be really successful as well is, like, hosting dinners. Mm.

Jessy: Mm. I was honestly literally about to say, 'cause I know we kind of like spoke about it very early on, community events, I real- like a live podcast, does not have to be too detailed. It could be an intimate dinner,...20 people at a table, just again, to like build that like FOMO, build that I wanna be a part of that- Yeah......build on community. It does work.

Alycia: Yeah. I think we're hearing it here first. But I'm going to start doing this for podcasters because there are so many events that are starting to pop up for communities, and, like, people bring the podcast communities together, but there's nothing for the hosts of the podcast to talk about, like, all the stuff that's going down in our industry and how quickly it's changing and the things that we're doing that are working.

And, like, I get so much benefit out of these conversations, but other podcasters don't get to be in this room unless they're listening. So I think that would be really cool to do, and so easy and so simple. It doesn't have to be 500 people. No. It literally could be five. Yeah.

Jessy: We at Hive started this, like, group that was very, like, PR-orientated. I found in the past, like, when I was coming up as a publicist, everything was, like, so competitive, and you weren't,...like, friends with other agencies. And I was like, "Why? I just don't understand it. We're all trying to do the same thing." Sure, we have, um, probably, like, competing clients, but it doesn't make sense why we can't, like, share ideas, industry knowledge.

So we started a, like, little community-based event with other agencies where we invited them in, and then we actually just, like, shared ideas. I had a journalist come in, tell them how we should, like, obviously pitch to them,...just to give everyone... Like, we're all trying to, like, find time with these journalists. So I was like, "Let's just put us all in the same room,...and we can all just ask the questions openly, and then we can all- we're probably all asking the same question."

Yeah. Um, so we did that a few times, and it was so good. And then this year we brought it back, and we actually opened it up to people that were wanting to get into the industry as opposed to those that were...already in the industry. Yeah. And it was so amazing just to see this, like, little community, like, that we've built, you know, of, like, 30 girls that wanted to come and actually hear how to, like, just get on-the-ground experience.

And it was so informative and so nice, and just really wholesome,...I think is probably the right way of explaining it. But you're right, like, there- it was very intimate, very underground, like, very much just, like, through DM that this little community was kind of, like, built

Alycia: Yeah.

Jessy: And I think it's so important, like, not only just for, like, the wider community, but, like, for the industry- Right...that you are in.

Alycia: Yeah,

Alycia: It goes across any age range as well, but I think in particular, I know for me personally, there was this big time, and even still now to some extent, but, like, between turning 20 and stopping going out to every nightclub in the world every night, and then having my kids, it was really difficult to build connection. So, like,...people love this stuff, and I know everyone's so scared of doing something like this, but, like, think of yourself as a consumer, would you wanna go to something like this? Like, how would you feel if you got invited? You'd probably be so stoked. Yeah. Um, and then when you have these events, what sort of things would you suggest people do, and I know you do this in, like,...

Your big activations as well, to encourage people to share to social

Jessy: Yeah. Such a good one, and I think something that's so missed all of the time. So whenever we do an event, first, please remind them about the event. Like, send them the details beforehand, the day

Alycia: Beforehand, the day

Jessy: Before, 24 hours before, remind them where they've actually gotta go. Then when they get to the event, obviously great time, take all of the content. We always have a photographer. Mm-hmm. And I think this is something that people are like, "Oh yeah, great, you have a photographer." But after the event, we ensure that that photographer gives us those images by next day. So, like, we had...an event last night. The event ended at 9:30. I had those images in my inbox. I think she sent them through at 1:00 AM.

Not saying that everybody needs to do that, but, like, when I woke up, it was in my inbox. I then used that Dropbox link, sent it to every single guest and said, "Thank you for coming, and here's a link." And that also generated not only, like, were they taking photos on the night, but then they're like, "Oh my God, I just got, like, beautiful press- professional photography. I'm gonna re-upload about it."

So we got, like, that second, like, burst essentially. Yeah. I think sometimes it's so missed. I know when I go to an event and then I don't get a link, I'm like, "Oh my God, I was waiting for that. Oh." And then four days passes, I'm like, "I'm not uploading about it now." Forget it, yeah. It's too late. And also, just having that special touch of, like, saying thank you,...I think makes all the difference.

'Cause, like, you walk away and you're like, "Oh, they actually really valued me being there."

Alycia: Mm.

Jessy: Yes, sure, it's, um, you know, an expense of the person putting on their, um, event. But you also want them to, like, you know, upload about you more and more, or like next time you have another launch, support you. So just go that, like, extra mile. Yeah. So I would say any event photographer- Yep... make sure that within that brief they're giving it to you ASAP- Yeah... and send it out to everybody. It's the only way to, like, get that, like, maximum coverage. You're...kind of, like, playing the content creator as well in that moment.

Alycia: Yeah, of course. And something I've seen you do that I think, again, is a huge missed opportunity, I feel like anywhere you look at the events that you have curated, there is the branding of whatever product it is. Like, you literally can't take a photo without it, someone seeing in that photo that that was BOOF or that was,...you know, whatever, Bying Body. And with a podcast, it's all well and good to have a really lovely dinner, but if there's not your branding there, like, how are people ever gonna know that it's associated with you unless they're doing the tags?

Like, if you can do it and there's two opportunities, there's an opportunity in an image and an opportunity in a tag- Yeah like, it just makes so much sense. Yeah.

Jessy: And look, I think every event has a moment to, like, have that brand. You know, like I always say when we go to an event space when we're kind of, like, first fleshing out where we want this event to be, everyone's like, "Oh, my God, let's get the brand everywhere." I'm like, "No, create key moments. Draw the eye...to where it needs to be, and then just, like, make that the key moment." 'Cause like then everyone's uploading about the same thing, and then if I'm following, like, five people...from the same event, I'm like, "Oh, my God, okay, why do I keep seeing this?" 'Cause you know...it's the same event.

You know it's been the same place or, like, the same product or the same brand. Yeah. And you're like, "Okay, now I need to go and have a look." 'Cause the consumer is overwhelmed at the best of times. We can obviously listen to podcasts everywhere. Mm-hmm. So why am I listening to this one? Yeah. So if I keep seeing the same message on social, like whether it's the tagline, whether it's a quote, whether it's, you know, something really interesting, I'm like, "Okay, why am I now looking?

Because I've seen it five times across my feed." 'Cause like seeing it once isn't enough. Like, I think as a consumer, you, to convert to, like, listen or purchase, it's like over like 35 times. It's a lot. So it's ridiculous. yeah So, like, the more that you can make sure that at your event you've got, like, one or two or three key moments- Make sure that they're so strong so that then that consumer sees it time and time again that makes them then go, "I need to look at what the hell this is."

Yeah....If they're not already familiar with your brand. Yeah,

Alycia: Love that. before we wrap up, I want to touch on, you actually had a podcast-

Jessy: I did... at one

Alycia: In time. So talk, take me all the way back. Why did you first start it?

Jessy: I don't know why I always have a million projects on the go, to be honest.

Alycia: Really, you?

Jessy: I look back, I'm like, "Oh my God, why do I have, like, nine lives?" And, like, I still feel like I'm, like, 18. You know when you're like, "Wait. Okay, I'm not 18 anymore, but I have had nine lives."

Alycia: Okay, side quest, and it's good for anyone listening, so I'm gonna leave this in. Do you know your human design?

Jessy: No. Oh,

Alycia: You have to look into this. I'm gonna send it to you. Yeah, please. There are, like, certain types of human design. It's kind of like a star sign, maybe a little of, like- I'd love to hear... woo-woo, but it has been so accurate for anyone that I've ever talked

Jessy: Okay, I wanna do it

Alycia: Of people where they are just, like, in this world to create event- or, like, to create things. Mm. Just go and, like, do the thing, do the thing, do the thing, and then move on to the next one.

Jessy: Okay. Maybe that's- Maybe

Alycia: But anyway, we'll have a look.

Jessy: I'll do the test and I'll loop back. Yeah,

Alycia: Definitely. I'll pop it in the show notes. Everyone can do their human design. Tell me what you are. It's my favorite thing. Uh, okay, so tell me, why did you start the pod in the first place?

Jessy: Yeah. It was me and another girl. Oh, which pod are you talking about now? 'Cause I've had two. Hive. Hive one. Okay, I had two. I started the first, um, one with another publicist. It was called Rogue, the podcast, and we basically did it as a insight into, like, what a publicist is, does, and we would interview, um, journalists, basically,...to get, like, inside scoop of, like, what was happening in the industry. Yeah. Um, that was, like, kinda, like, during COVID.

Then the Hive podcast, oh my God, this was such a time. Um, so the girls wanted to do it, um, my team of bees, and similar, um, aspect in that we would interview one another, in what was happening, like, within that week, because the girls were just like, "I don't think people realize, like, what goes on behind the scenes." So, like, you don't see the bump in, you don't see the bump out, the, the chaos of the event space. You don't see the endless hours of, like, spreadsheets or pitching. You just see the, like, the, the, glamorous life. Yeah, you see the lunch that we're sitting at that, you know, took 48 hours to get there.

Alycia: We've had no sleep.

Jessy: We've had no sleep. Yeah, we've had no sleep. We're out the back washing dishes sometimes, you know? like, that you don't see that. So we did the podcast to kinda give, I guess, a real-life look at, like, what an actual publicist does. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. Um, my husband actually previously had a podcast, so we had the podcast gear- Right um, and started, uh, doing it. We were editing it ourselves- and then the podcast came to an abrupt end because I accidentally left the podcast gear on and it basically burned through

Alycia: Oh, no. Oh my God. I was not expecting that. I was like, "Okay, she got busy. Little things took off." No way. Yeah. Oh my God, this is good to know. Notes, Nick, don't leave the

Jessy: Podcast gear on Please don't. My husband will die at me, like actually admitting to that because at the time I was like, "No, I didn't do that." And I was like, "Yes, I did."

Alycia: Gosh, just come to- Yeah... like, a puddle of melted stuff? Oh,

Jessy: Yeah, Well, it basically just didn't turn back on, and he was like, "Did you leave it on?" I was like, "No. Why would we ever do that?" Whoops.

Alycia: Whoops.

Jessy: Yes, it was very much left on.

Alycia: Oh my God. Okay, and so tell me now, if you were going to pick it back up again,...what would you do differently? I

Jessy: What would you do differently? I would definitely get someone else to edit it, only because of the time.

Alycia: Yeah, of course. Right? Like- Yeah... only

Jessy: Yeah... only because of the time. I actually, like found the editing process quite meditative.

Alycia: It's so therapeutic. Yeah. Like, I genuinely love it. I... People who've been following for a while will know, like, when I first started it and it was me doing all the editing of every podcast, I'd always, like, lay on my stomach on my bed and just, like, edit away- Yeah and have the time of my life.

Jessy: Was- It is. It's, quite meditative. Yeah. But yeah, finding the time is probably like a whole other thing.

Alycia: Got so many more valuable things to be

Jessy: Yeah, I just didn't need to be doing that. Um, I think the other thing that I would probably do, it wasn't as big now, like video. We didn't obviously do that. We very much did, um, you know, TikTok, socials, those sorts of thing, but we didn't actually have like YouTube and actually like video the whole episode start to finish. So I would probably definitely look into that. I just think like we're just in this era now where we really wanna like watch things- Yeah more and more. So yeah, I would say video and editing would've been my, like, if I, we, if we were still doing it, that's where we would've gone with it, for sure. And

Alycia: And what about the strategy? Like, do you think you'd do the same thing, or do you think you'd do something different?

Jessy: Ooh, if I was to bring back a podcast, I'd probably actually do the same thing. It was actually quite fun to unpack. I think we would also probably look at like someone that was a producer, and maybe it needed to be someone else within the team. I'm not really sure. And I find this with our TikTok strategy even, I'm like, sometimes you wanna go to like all this depth to show like what goes on behind the scenes.

I'm sure you're the same. It's like, how long did it take you to set this up today? Um, finding a location, all of those things, right? Like, nobody really sees the behind the scenes. And whilst it isn't glamorous, it is really interesting. But I found sometimes I was like running out of ideas of how many times we could show someone a bump in. Like, how many times can you explain it?

It's kind of like you either get it or you don't.

Alycia: So

Jessy: So maybe just someone g- like having the availability within their mind to be creative would've been helpful

Alycia: Yeah. And like, that can now be, for anyone listening as well, like that can now be AI, right? Like, don't use it to write your scripts, but it can, and we've just set this up. Like, it pulls all of the news about the podcasting space, and it just lands in my inbox every single morning. I'm like, "Fantastic, here is everything." Like, there's the TLDR of that. that. would be so good, yeah. And like, uh, there's some incredible programs. Whisper is one of them. Mm. My favorite. So you just literally talk to it, and you can like debrief about your week, about your day, and then like let it kind of build that into some form of like- Mm coherent script that could be like, "Okay, cool, this is

Jessy: I can use that. Yeah, totally.

Alycia: Which I think would be so good. I love this. I feel like you should br- definitely bring podcasts back, you know, just in the spare time that

Jessy: The girls would love to bring the podcast back. Someone actually mentioned it the other day, and I was like, "Oh my God, we're back here again."

Alycia: Was like, "Oh, thanks."

Jessy: We've got too much on."

Alycia: Yeah, actually. But I've seen something really cool with a lot of brands that I think, like podcasts definitely, they need their own strategy. Like, they need their own strategy. They need their own, like, thought process of what does this look like beyond 10 episodes. Otherwise, everyone in the world, they get to 10 episodes, and that's kind of it. Nine out of 10 podcast- uh, sorry, 90% of the podcasts on Apple have under 10 episodes. Yeah. And it's because it is, like, it's a huge commitment to do this.

But I've seen so many brands do TikTok series. I'm like, "That could actually be something really fun- Yeah... that could just go across to a podcast as like a miniseries." As a mini one, yeah. Because people wanna listen when they're driving. Like, not all the time do I have 15 minutes that I can sit there and watch your TikTok. Yeah. But I'm really curious. I

Jessy: Completely agree with this because there are times where I'm sitting on TikTok and I'm like, "I'm gonna loop back to that because I want to have the capacity," and you don't. Yeah. You don't actually loop back. But a pod, I will sit in my car and be like, "Oh yeah, cool, I'm gonna pop that on right now." Like, it's a different way of, like, consuming information as opposed to social, which are, like, kind of like doom scrolling. Yeah,

Alycia: And the platforms remind you. Like again,...you could technically save the TikTok, come back to it, and a lot of podcasts are starting to use that strategy. They'll do longer clips for their podcast. Genius if you haven't done that. But for someone, like a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify, once you've hit subscribe, it will tell you every week...that there's something there, unlike TikTok, you've gotta hope that the algorithm serves it to them. TikTok,

Jessy: It to you. Loops back, Yeah,

Alycia: It's a really smart idea, so I love that. Okay, amazing, I have some fun little questions- Yeah......to wrap us off. So tell me, what is the best PR activation that you've ever seen?

Jessy: Oh You know what? I just don't know if your audience will like this Tell us... maybe they will. Um, CSB- CSB launched a new colorway with the influencer Alex Earle. Mm. Um, they did a launch event, um, with Alex Earle. Her entire influencer community obviously attended, obviously had so many uploads. Like- Yeah......the reach would've been insane. And then the next day, they launched a pop-up at the same location, um, which community could actually, like, attend and get, like, the first reveal, and it was just genius.

Alycia: Yeah. Was- They

Jessy: Did everything so well.

Alycia: And I think so many brands this year, and you would know this better than me, like, so many brands this year have done that community aspect. Like, we've seen brands doing community trips. Huge, Huge, Like, not influencers. Like, yes, okay, influencers are still incredible- Yeah......but treating your community like the influencers. Yeah.

Jessy: Uh, community is everything at the moment, and I think that's also because we're just seeing from a consumer perspective people like, "Well, I've spent a fortune with this brand," or, "I've listened a heap with this brand. Like, when's the kickback gonna come to me?" Mm. As opposed to only being for the talent. Um, so honestly, lean into community more and more- Yeah if you can

Alycia: Podcasting that's as simple as, like, the guys from Bloody Brilliant Beers, they have a huge audience, and the h- biggest part of that community growth was bringing their listeners in. Like, they got them to actually dial in. It was perfect. But like, you've gotta get amazing guests on. Again, I need to do this better myself. You'll see this. I will have to do this. But, like, y- you ask your community what do they wanna hear.

Yeah. " Like, Hi, we're talking to this person. What do you

Jessy: Do you wanna hear? And then

Alycia: They listen in to see if their questions have actually been answered. Yeah. Which I love. Amazing. if you only had a $100 budget to promote your show- Yeah... what are you spending it on?

Jessy: Oh, $100.

Alycia: Not much.

Jessy: Not

Alycia: Much. You can barely get a coffee for $100

Jessy: In Sydney. Um, oh, that's so hard. I need options.

Alycia: Mm. What do you think? Like, out of the stuff that we've spoken about today, like sending out cakes, like, we're launching a show and we wanna get people talking about it. Mm. We have barely got a dollar. We've spent it all on the studio. Right

Jessy: The bottom of the barrel here, guys. I actually think I would look to- Oh, it's so hard because I actually probably wouldn't spend it

Alycia: Mm-hmm

Jessy: Or would I? Okay, I wouldn't spend it, but I would try and find a community of people. So let's say

Alycia: Frank Greef-

Jessy: His entire office you could buy coffees for, for under $100 and deliver them.

Alycia: Genius.

Jessy: So,

Alycia: Find a

Jessy: Community that, like, is tight enough, that has a big enough voice. Yeah.

Alycia: Mm-hmm.

Jessy: Deliver the coffees for $100, 'cause you can only probably purchase 10 at this point. Um, and, you know, like, with a personalized note card that says, like, "Hi," and the reason that you're delivering it is obviously for them to, like, listen, upload, or whatever. Okay. So, like, make sure that, yeah, coffee's on us. So, like, make sure the note card is personalized, but find a big enough community of people, 10, that you think you're gonna get all 10 of them uploading. Mm. And take the coffee so that it's, like, a bit personalized, and maybe you could put, um, wraps-

Alycia: Ooh

Jessy: The outside

Alycia: The cups. For $100? Well, write on the Wisharfia.

Jessy: Yeah.

Alycia: Watch my podcast please.

Jessy: Is now an espresso.

Alycia: It's empty. You just get the cups.

Jessy: You know what? Take

Alycia: Cups from

Jessy: Your house.

Alycia: Hand-deliver them. Yeah,

Jessy: Yeah, deliver them. So yeah, get really creative for that $100, and I would probably try and find someone influential that you could do, like, a creative delivery for.

Alycia: That was a terrible amount to give you, but I love that I gave it to you 'cause we got here. 'Cause we got there. I

Jessy: Got here. We got

Alycia: Something that I've seen, genius, that you just reminded me of, is a podcast that would regularly put, like, a tab on for their listeners. So Starbucks, you can, like, screenshot the voucher code or the QR code, and people just walk in and, like, show that, and then it just goes down, so it's like, you know, first people to get into it. Yeah. But, like, everyone was posting about it. They were so grateful. Yeah. They were saying thank you. I was

Jessy: So grateful. Yeah.

Alycia: Like, "That's so

Jessy: We actually, I had this during COVID. Um, we went to our local coffee shop, and someone had put, like, you know, $100 down, and so then...the next, like, so many people got free coffees. And then, like, pe- he- heaps of people then just kept adding to the bill. It was actually, like, such a nice- So good...yeah, it was so,...it was such a nice moment. We need to go back to that, actually.

Alycia: Were so many wholesome moments back then. We actually liked each other. It was really lovely. I mean, there were downsides, but- so good. Okay, a question that I ask everyone to the podcast is what is one podcast that's regularly on your rotation, and why do you keep coming back to it?

Jessy: To it? Yeah. This might be, um, very niche 'cause it's obviously, like, beauty-related, but Stylish podcast by Shameless. Yeah. Yeah, 'cause they're obviously, like, talking about, like, trends and, um, beauty. So we're often listening to see whether any of our brand's got a mention, but also just, like, trying to see, like, what's going viral.

Alycia: Yeah. Genius. I love that podcast, and I think a lot of people could learn from that, even if you're not in the beauty space, just the dynamic of the hosts- Yeah... and, like, how they bring pieces to each other. Like, we've spoken to a lot of edutainment podcasts, and just seeing the way that they riff off and, like, explain a concept I think is genius.

Jessy: Yeah. They also do do a pretty good job of, like, teasing or, like, um- Yeah... popping, like, their, yeah, social content and, like, l- alluding to, like, what's coming.

Alycia: The Shameless girls are geniuses Yeah Like anyone in that realm are so clever. They're a good one to watch. Incredible. Uh, where can people find you and connect with

Jessy: Gosh. Anywhere. Um, Instagram or TikTok, Jessy Marshall, and then Hives is@hivehq.

Alycia: Yeah. Perfect. We will pop it all in the show, and especially TikTok, they can come say hi. Yeah. Um, amazing. And is there one last piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to start or

Jessy: Grow their show? No, just keep trying. Don't take no for an answer.

Alycia: And don't leave your podcast gear on.

Jessy: Exactly. Please.

Alycia: Do, please. Love that, Jessy. Thank you so much for

Jessy: Then, Jessy, thank you so much for joining me. Pleasure. Thanks for having me.