Global affiliate marketing platform, Commission Factory, today announced the launch of its new podcast series, Flex Your Hustle, via independent audio experiences agency Ampel.
Aimed at helping marketers and agency teams find innovative new ways to grow their business outside of traditional channels, Flex Your Hustle, is a 14-episode content series talking to start-ups and SMEs through to CMOs of large-scale brands.
Michelle Lomas, general manager, Ampel (and also Flex Your Hustle’s host) said: “Podcasting and audio are currently Australia’s fastest growing marketing communications tools. And with 40% of Australian’s listening to a podcast at least once a month there is a wealth of audience to connect with. The aim of Flex Your Hustle is to disrupt the way marketers think, so what better way to deliver the message than use the platform that is currently disrupting the comms market?”
“We know Australians are turning to audio as a preferred method of finding out information, and people are now listening on average 7 podcast episodes a week. So taking a brief from a brave client who is prepared to look for an alternative method to engage its customers was exactly what we do best.”
Audio usage in Australia has seen exponential growth, growing 30-50% YOY for the last 5 years, with Australians listening to more than 50 hours of Audio per month, 1 compared to the approx. 60 hours of monthly TV watching2.
Zane McIntyre, founder, Commission Factory said: “We were looking for new ways to engage our customers and we know audio currently has deeper engagement than any other channel. Podcasts support great storytelling, audio is hands-free, is proven as a greater retention tool and is fast becoming a brand’s most important external channel, so we are delighted to use audio as the engagement medium to reach Australian marketers.
Lomas continued: “Marketing has changed dramatically in the past decade, and industry discussion tells us marketers are tired of traditional planning models that only focus on the big 3. They are disgruntled by the lack of innovation in the industry and looking for new, successful ways to grow their business and brands – outside of Google, Facebook and Amazon. And so, the idea of Flex your Hustle was born. We’ve produced a podcast series to talk directly to marketers and agencies looking for new ways to grow and innovate.”
Flex Your Hustle’s guest line up is as unusual as the series itself. While other marketing podcasts focus on success stories of the big guys (and occasionally women) with venture capital backing and Ivy League education, Ampel and Commission Factory took a different direction.
Lomas interviews marketers most people have never heard of to highlight people with zero marketing experience who managed to build multi-million-dollar businesses – simply by hustling their way to success.
Lomas said: “How does a business that’s not allowed to market on social media end up becoming one of the largest and most successful e-Comm businesses in the country? We talk to the Founder of sexual wellness e-comm business LoveHoney to find out how he did it and what risks he took along the way. We chat to Stay At Home Mum, Jody Allen, on how she founded an incredibly successful digital publication built with no publishing or marketing experience.
“We were interested in marketers with little to no experience but plenty of drive. These hustlers had no preconceived notions of what marketing should be and growth hacked their way to the top — trying, failing, falling over, getting up and going for another round until they succeeded… and then continued to grow,” Lomas said
“Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Flex Your Hustle is all about being not afraid to think differently, and using audio should show marketers a few new tactics for them to try on their clients and their own businesses,” concluded Lomas.
The series kicks off interviewing Jody Allen – founder of Stay At Home Mum – who built a 1M+ Unique user publication with zero experience in publishing or marketing, followed by Rob Godwin – Australasian director of LoveHoney – one of the largest sexual wellness companies in the world – which has been honoured by the Queen twice for e-commerce excellence!
Future podcasts will include Ashleigh Gardiner – head of data at My Muscle Chef; Adrian Fagerlund – co-founder of Linkby plus the founders of Super Rewards, Naked Sundays, Boody and more.
Flex Your Hustle launched on June 28 with episodes launching weekly. It can be listened to on Spotify, Apple podcasts and other podcast sites.
