Podcasting As A Marketing Tool
Sep 28th
There’s no denying how popular podcasting is. According to Demand Sage, as of June 2022, there were 2.4 million podcasts globally, with 66 million episodes and counting between them. With a prediction of 424 million podcast listeners worldwide by the end of the year, the phenomenon is growing yearly.
But is podcasting a worthwhile investment when it comes to business? In this article, we’re exploring the effectiveness of podcasting as a marketing channel.
Five benefits of podcasting as a brand
Podcasting allows for community building
As a medium that fosters long-term connection, audio offers an excellent opportunity to build an engaged community. With the average listener consuming new episodes weekly, good podcasts can quickly become a part of a consumer’s routine. When executed well, taking to the mic allows brands to speak to their audience regularly. Whether educational, entertaining, or emotive, if you can offer value to consumers, they’ll keep coming back.
From here, you have the potential to turn listeners into loyal customers, word-of-mouth marketers and influential brand ambassadors.
Podcasting allows brands to become an authoritative voice in their space
While you could opt for a generalist podcast, you’ll likely choose to tap into your business niche. By doing so, you can establish your brand as an authoritative voice within your space, giving you an advantage over competitors.
Furthermore, you can increase your reach by inviting credible guests from your industry to your show. Not only does this boost the trust of your audience further, you can also leverage their audience to reach more listeners. The result? You get your brand in front of even more people.
Long-form content offers nuance
A significant advantage of podcasting is that long-form content allows brands to offer more information and nuance than you would via other mediums, particularly social media. In addition, podcasting will enable you to authentically introduce your brand values, goals and products or services.
When listeners feel an authentic connection, they’ll be more receptive to subtle sales techniques. Because of the nature of podcasting, you can market to your audience so that it feels like a recommendation from a friend, a two-way conversation or a masterclass.
It’s a great medium to speak to a more mature audience
While podcasts may be growing at a slower rate than social media, they unite a different audience. According to Statista, 40% of UK podcast listeners are aged 26-35. For comparison, over ¼ of TikTok users are aged 18-24 in the UK. So, podcasting is an effective tool to tap into a more mature audience with a higher average income.
It’s a less competitive space than social media
While there are 2.4 million podcasts globally, compared to 80 million Facebook pages, 1 billion active TikTok and Instagram users and 396 million Twitter profiles, the medium quickly seems less competitive than social media.
If you can put out high-quality content, podcasting can help you to cut through the noise and speak directly to your target audience.
To us, podcasting is more than just marketing. Podcasting is storytelling, connection, and authentically engaging with your customers. When approached thoughtfully, with integrity at the forefront, there’s no doubt podcasting can be a powerful marketing tool.
Key considerations
If you’ve bought into the power of podcasting for your brand, now is the time to ask yourself some critical questions.
- What’s your niche, and how competitive is its podcasting space?
- Can you commit to podcasting long-term? Yes, it’s a time-consuming medium, but you don’t want to launch a podcast only for it to become a stagnant marketing channel in a few months.
- How regularly can you commit to publishing new episodes? Listeners value consistency.
- How will you build your audience? Do you have the budget and resources in place?
- Can you access the expertise you’ll need? Such as producers, researchers, and social media managers.
In a nutshell, podcasting is at its best when it’s done with purpose. So, if you’re ready to find your voice on a new marketing channel with a supportive community in your corner, click here to explore our membership options.