How a Podcast Could Benefit Your Business
Podcasting, an audio blogging platform derived from the words “iPod” and “broadcasting”, has been around since the early 2000s, but it wasn’t anything like it is today. The pioneers of podcasts included chat-heavy hosts who did little to properly edit, produce, and plan their episodes — a long way away from the methodically composed investigative, entertaining, and political shows we see (or hear) today.
While this platform has been around for nearly two decades, we can clearly pinpoint the moment when podcasting really took off. Serial, an investigative journalism podcast detailing the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee and following trial, was released in October 2014 and took the world by storm. By February 2016, the episodes had been downloaded over 80 million times and had completely changed the landscape of the podcasting world — effectively cementing its impact on the platform and establishing two separate eras that we can refer to as B.S. and A.S. (before Serial and after Serial).
With Serial’s success came thousands of inspired journalists, writers, comedians, and talk show hosts who were looking to shine on the audio stage as well — Music Oomph estimates there are currently 700,000 active podcasts that have amassed over 29 million episodes. But it wasn’t just established media personalities who were throwing their hat in the ring; from celebrities with state-of-the-art equipment to regular joes operating out of their basement, everyone seemed to want a piece of this pie.
You may be asking yourself, “why is this relevant to my business?” Maybe you’re not a crime reporter looking to dive into the gruesome details of a cold case or a comedian giving commentary on the latest pop culture dramas, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use podcasting to your advantage. In recent years, many businesses have added podcasts to their repertoire as a means to market themselves, just as they use more traditional methods to connect with their audiences like blogging and social media.
Continue reading to learn about how businesses use podcasting to their advantage.
Why Your Business Needs a Podcast
Keeping up with the latest trends will introduce new ways to market yourself, so incorporating podcasts into your strategy is a great way to take advantage of the new craze. Here’s a few great benefits you’ll reap by utilizing this platform:
1. Build a Stronger Connection with Your Audience
At its core, podcasting is about speaking with your audience and opening the floor to a conversation. As a business, it can be hard to feel personal to your customers, as they’re probably not aware of the faces behind the company. Starting a podcast is a way to personalize your business and give it a real voice; showing the audience who’s behind a company creates a sense of trust. Building a real relationship with customers is so important, in fact, that Newsroom reported 41 percent of consumers switched companies in 2017 because of a lack of personalization and trust between the business and customer. Think about your brand and who you’re marketing to, then brainstorm content ideas that will be relevant to your target audience. Start a podcast, start a discussion; it could be the beginning of a beautiful rapport between you and your buyers.
Check out our blog “The 5 W’s You Need For Content Creation” to learn about the relevant content you need to engage an audience.
2. Share Your Expertise
One of the goals of marketing is to show the audience that you are the best at what you do, whatever that may be. In an effort to get customers to choose you over a competitor, prove to them that you know what you’re doing and you are the better option. Podcasting is a great way to showcase your knowledge and creativity, while establishing yourself as an authoritative voice in the industry. Audio allows for you to include a level of enthusiasm and passion regarding your field that isn’t as easily conveyed through text, so it will resonate will people more than traditional writing efforts. This is also a great way for consumers who aren’t inclined to read longform content to interact with you and get to know more about the way you run your business.
3. Increase Brand Awareness
Hosting a podcast and regularly updating it can boost your brand awareness and help to make your business a household name. Giving your audience a platform to keep up with you and follow along with your story can help turn a regular customer into a loyal fan. Try talking about your products and services throughout your episodes to give people a deeper look at what you’re selling, how it can help them, and why they should choose you over a competitor. You can do this in a number of ways such as having guests on the show to give a testimonial for your business and allow customers to get an outsider’s opinion or hosting a Q&A session for buyers to submit their own questions. The more people engage, the more your brand awareness increases!
4. Drive Revenue
Podcasting has proven to be a lucrative business — the industry generated an estimated $479.1 million in 2018, and is projected to cross the $1 billion mark by 2021. If your podcast is attracting an audience, you can drive revenue to your business through sponsors. Turns out, other companies (as long as you aren’t a competitor) are willing to pay big bucks for advertising space within popular shows, so this is a great way to boost cashflow. Bonus — a basic podcasting microphone is really all you need to get started, and they’re pretty affordable.
5. Keep Customers Engaged
Once you’ve attracted a customer, you want to make sure they actually stay a customer, which is why it’s so important to actively engage them. The problem with keeping your audience interested is that most people simply don’t have time to sit down and read 4000-word descriptions of your products and services. Podcasts are the answer to that — you may not be able to devote 10 minutes reading content, but you can surely fit in 5 minutes of listening to it. The audio version allows for more flexibility and gives people another way to stay up-to-date with your business. On top of these advantages, podcasts are just popular these days. People want to listen to them. Having a podcast will be a streamlined way for consumers to get to know you and stay invested in your business.
It’s Important to Evolve
The world of marketing is constantly changing, and if you don’t change with it you could get left behind. Staying up-to-date on industry trends is what’s going to set you apart from the competition, so consider starting a podcast and taking advantage of the platform’s ability to engage with customers, establish personality for your business, and possibly even increase revenue.
Here at Pinckney, we’re all about creating relevant content that actually resonates with our audience — so we’re excited about the possibilities that podcasting brings to the marketing industry. To learn more about our strategy and how we evolve to compete in today’s ever-changing world to improve your business strategy, contact us today!