Podcasting has numerous benefits, however, producing an ongoing podcast is a hard nut to crack. It takes more effort than simply clicking ‘Record’ on your smartphone and then uploading it online.
According to a recent Edison Research report, around 98 million US citizens are listening to podcasts annually, with more than 50 million individuals listening to them on a monthly basis. Indeed, the present podcasting explosion has been presaged as the ideal age of podcasts.
Podcasting involves a tremendous amount of research, planning, acquiring technical skills, managing social media networks and engaging your target audience. Once a podcast is started, the only thing that is going to stay on top of your mind will be: what should the next episode be about?
For companies, podcasting can be a compelling opportunity to interact with your clientele, become noticeable among your competitors, and turn into an industry frontrunner and professional. However, you need to be very accurate about time management.
While only 3% of marketers are currently using podcasting for marketing purposes, around 32% actively wish to learn how to use it, and 23% intend to escalate their podcasting efforts.
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Podcasting: Your shortcut to success
Did you know, MailChimp became a popular brand name overnight by simply running a 20-second ad at the start of every episode of the famous podcast, Serial?
This is just one illustration of a business taking advantage of podcasting, and it inspired several other companies to start producing their own podcasts.
Here’s why you should consider podcasting as a content marketing channel in 2018:
1. Practicing the art of subtle branding
Let’s face it: over-branding can actually kill your brand.
Around 57% of customers report that they avoid brands that bombard them with advertisements and other marketing messages. Podcasts can help you master the art of subtle branding!
As digital marketers, we are continuously reminded that storytelling is a vital instrument for consumer engagement. Through appropriate, enlightening, and valuable stories conveyed by evocative means, companies can connect with customers and develop a devoted audience.
One way to interact with your audience is a corporate blog. However, maintaining an attention-grabbing blog involves several SEO challenges and there is a high probability that your potential customers become more aware of brand involvement.
Therefore, podcasts such as audio content can help you implement a more subtle approach. This way, you can become an intrinsic element of the content itself. For example; eBay recently joined hands with Gimlet Creative to come up with its own podcast series titled ‘Open for Business’ that uses audio content for advertising purposes.
2. Easy to consume and mobile-friendly
Unlike blogs and videos, the beauty of podcasts lies in the fact that audio content can be more conveniently accessed on the go. It does not force users to abandon whatever they are doing just to concentrate wholly on your content. Whether they are working out or cooking, they can easily listen to your podcast.
According to HandMadeWritings, it is imperative for marketers to identify consumer behavior across multiple generations and to renovate their marketing approach accordingly. Therefore, with more and more consumers using smartphones today, it is also important to make your podcast mobile-friendly.
An interesting example of a company producing convenient-to-consume and enjoyable content is General Electric that started a science-fiction podcast titled ‘The Message’. Contrary to the eBay podcast, General Electric focused on the audience to succeed.
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3. Swift turnaround time
One of the reasons you should give podcasting a try is the quick turnaround time. Regardless of what audio software is used, the whole process of editing a podcast is very swift.
So, how do you come up with a quick podcast? Here are a few simple steps:
- Record your discussion
- Add a brief introduction to your company or product
- Add theme music (it’s advisable to purchase it to prevent copyright infringement)
- Listen to the recording to ensure that the sound is clear and your message is conveyed effectively
- Edit to make it picture-perfect
- Save it as an MP3 file
- Voila! You’re ready to upload it to your site.
4. Reflection of true brand personality
Along with offering value for customers, podcasts can also reflect a company’s individuality and fundamental values. Rather than using written content for conveying what a brand stands for, it is often more convenient to do so by expressing it vocally.
For instance, Slack, a popular corporate messaging tool, has initiated its podcast series called, ‘The Slack Variety Pack’ that depicts a true picture of the company. This amusing, buoyant and somewhat geeky content engages its main audience impeccably. Consequently, it helps in further strengthening the connection with its customers.
5. Higher reach, wider audience
Once a podcast is published on iTunes, Stitcher or similar platforms, a company exposes its content to a broader audience at no cost. These platforms act as search engines that are used by individuals to look for podcasts along with popular songs. In this way, a brand receives the organic publicity that helps in snowballing its reach and growing its audience.
Moreover, podcasts facilitate companies in developing a loyalty of an extensive range of consumers. Audiences generally subscribe to a podcast series and frequently listen to them. Furthermore, there is a high possibility that the listeners may endorse your podcasts to their fellows, thereby, growing your reach significantly. It can ultimately yield enhanced traffic generation.
6. Fostering improved relationships with your customers
Although a podcast is a unidirectional platform, it can facilitate companies in developing better relationships with the customers. It makes your audience feel as if they recognize the individual talking on the podcast.
The primary reason why individuals listen to podcasts is that they feel something mutual between the speaker and the company being represented by the speaker.
In this way, fostering a good relationship aids in developing conviction, which emboldens the audience to stay connected with the company. All this results in enhanced conversion as individuals are more probable to do business with an acquaintance than an outsider.
Final word
Companies these days are progressively implementing podcasting to increase their projections. It’s an influential marketing tool that has gradually become the novel talk-radio on portable devices such as smartphones and tablets. In fact, the augmented usage of smartphones has resulted in the massive development of podcasting.
However, just as any other method of content marketing, the accomplishment of corporate podcasts depends on genuineness, value, and significance for customers. There is no single formula for success. Nonetheless, it seems more and more companies are enthusiastic to experiment with podcasting.
Guest Author: Donna Moores is a savvy content marketer and a contributing writer at Convince & Convert, SocialMediaToday, and Spin Sucks. She has gained an outstanding marketing experience within the biggest industries and businesses, which she pleasantly shares with the readers. You may reach out to Donna on Twitter or via LinkedIn.