Adding Podcasts to Your Marketing Strategy
Do you listen to podcasts? You might have heard of the one podcast that put the whole field on the map: Serial. Other popular podcasts include This American Life, Welcome to Night Vale, or WTF with Marc Maron. You can find podcasts in every genre, from fiction, nonfiction, comedy, news, history and so much more.
Why Podcasts are the Perfect Medium
Podcasts can be a unique part of any content marketing strategy. Unlike video or articles, which requires someone’s full attention to watch or read, podcasts are simply audio. They don’t require your full attention — and that’s a good thing. A lot of people listen to podcasts while doing things that don’t require a lot of brain work: driving, exercising, cleaning, etc. But they aren’t just turning on podcasts on and tuning out; they are actively listening to the content and learning from it. It makes those meaningless activities far more interesting.
The audience for podcasts is an ever-growing market. Since 2013, the amount of monthly podcast listeners has grown 75%, according to Edison Research. In 2016, over 21% of Americans listen to about 5 podcasts a week, which is the same amount of people that use Twitter! If you’re a niche market too, you might find an audience none of your competitors have tapped into.
Why Podcasts are a Small Investment with a Great ROI
The best part about podcasts? They are easy and cheap to produce. All you need is a quality microphone (I recommend a Blue Snowball USB Microphone), a recording program on your computer, such as GarageBand, and an audio editing program. Schedule out an hour every week to write up an outline of what you’ll talk about, and another hour to record. That’s it!
So what does this small amount of time get you? You have an audience that, on average, listens to weekly podcasts that are 30 to 45 minutes long. Imagine having an audience for that span of time, tuning in every week. It’s an ROI that most salespeople would kill for… And it’s all for a low, low cost.
If You Record It ,They Will Come … As Long As You Offer Something of Value
Like all content marketing, your podcasts can’t just be one long sales pitch. Podcasting is about building trust in your brand by educating your audience about your passion and expertise. Entertainment is equally important — no one wants to listen to someone drone on about a topic. Even though people often listen to podcasts while doing something else, they want to be engaged as well.
Having a co-host or an interviewee can go a long way to building the engagement banter. You can banter and joke around — but keep it professional — which makes the medium more personal even if you’re talking about a serious subject. The best podcasts make the audience feel like they’re “one of the guys/gals,” hanging out with their friends. If the talking people in their earbuds can make that connection, it builds trust and loyalty that can’t be beat.
Don’t forget your call-to-actions either. Ask your listeners to send in feedback about the topic you’ve discussed. Encourage them to go to a specific article on your website to learn more about a topic. Start a Facebook group so your listeners can come in and meet each other, building a community.
So Where Do I Start?
Whether you’re new or old to podcasts, start by listening to some of your favorites and others in the niche. You might find that a perfect model for your podcast by picking and choosing elements from other podcasts; for example, how they do their introductions, or if they have unique segments. NPR’s Politics start their podcast by singing their theme song; Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight podcast has their unique “Good Use of Polling or Bad Use of Polling” segment.
We’ve gathered some of the best in the industry for you to start finding your groove in the podcast world. Check them out and have fun with your new podcast marketing adventure.
#1 ConversionCast by Tim Paige is the podcast put on by the popular landing page software provider, Leads Pages. And as you can tell by the name of the podcast and the product they sell, this podcast is about increasing conversion. At every stage in the funnel, there is optimization opportunities that all lead to greater sales. This is bottom of funnel optimization and Tim does a great job himself as well as bringing in entertaining and intellectual know-how in the conversion space.
#2 Social Media Zoom Factor by Pam Moore, Forbes Top 10 Media Influencers, is packed full of valuable tips from the first minute. She covers social media, finding your brand and digital marketing. She also has a Twitter chat on Tuesday afternoons, 1:00ET @PamMktgNut. Pam also provides free templates to aide in your social media strategy and planning.
#3 Social Media Marketing by Michael Stelzner of The Social Media Examiner is a great podcast. While long content form, it is filled with actionable insights for marketers at any level. After all this Social Media Marketing field is not only in its infancy, but its also changing on daily basis with technology improvements. Checkout this long-form content podcast that takes a different approach on podcast marketing.
Whatever you decide to do, have fun with this medium! Your audience will love you for it.