Podcasting as Marketing

Podcasts can be an effective marketing strategy for almost any business.

By Michelle Henderson

the microphones on the Apple ear buds that came with their iPhones (not suggested, but possible). Recording software is readily available online for low monthly costs and hosting platforms distribute podcasts at no base cost. Overhead and time commitments are lower than video or branded whitepapers and a podcast can easily scale from monthly to bi-weekly as it gains popularity.

Easy Listening

Once a podcast has earned a subscriber, they’re likely to keep listening.

Friendly Format

Informal conversation is an easier way to consume information than a long-form article, book, or webinar. More engaging than a lecture, more friendly than an online class, and more interesting than a single voice, the conversational style of podcasts draws audiences and drives ongoing engagement.

Beyond true crime stories and political pontification, podcasts can be an effective and integral part of a content marketing strategy for businesses in just about every industry or sector. For those in professional services, a podcast provides a platform for thought leadership. For creators and makers, a podcast solidifies partnerships, sheds light on processes, and drives brand ambassadorship. For manufacturers, a podcast does all the above. There are few limits to the depth and breadth

Contributor

of information that finds an interested and engaged audience through podcasting.

Content marketing encompasses a huge variety of strategies. Generating content and distributing it online can include search engine optimization, social media marketing, long-form web content, public relations efforts, and so much more. A podcast can act as a cornerstone of a content marketing strategy.

Low Barrier to Entry

You don’t need a studio, or even any super expensive equipment. Many successful podcasters use

Users love podcasts because consuming audio can be a more passive experience than watching a video or reading a blog post. Listeners can get their favorite podcasts anywhere at any time –work, home, gym, car, bus, bike, you name it. Podcasts make multitasking possible in a variety of places and ways. Users can engage in an organization’s message in transit or while doing housework – something not possible with reading or watching.

Regular Engagement

Podcasts are released on a schedule and listeners regularly subscribe. Frequency of brand mentions keeps an organization top of mind. Few other digital distribution channels drive subscriptions that go directly to prospective customers’ phones. Podcasting bypasses social media and search algorithm headaches.

Ongoing Content Creation

Content marketing strategies require a significant amount of content generated and redistributed in a variety of formats. Podcasters may take quotes from their conversations to create social media posts, transcribe an episode as a blog, and compile episodes into an ebook. Any core content generated in a podcast provides opportunity for related content on multiple platforms, all feeding back into a lead generation or sales funnel for the root organization. As a friendly, easy way to generate a bulk of content for an online marketing strategy, podcasts are the perfect core of a content marketing strategy.

As with any other piece of content, a podcast must be interesting to be engaging. Before starting, an organization should think about:

How they can add to their industry’s collective knowledge

How they can impact their audience’s buying decisions

Content marketing strategies are successful when they provide information the audience wants to hear instead of information a business wants people to know. If you don’t have a go-to podcast that you tune in to regularly, a quick search on Google will reveal many of the top-rated podcasts in a variety of industries and subject matters. Listen to a few and think about what they have in common.

Now, what can you add to the conversation?

High Tech Rubbish

The Ocean Cleanup is an environmental organization that seeks to clean up “garbage patches” in oceans and remove plastic pollution from rivers. In oceans, it uses a long, u-shaped barrier, similar to a net, that is pulled through patches of rubbish by boats. Artificial intelligence (AI) powered cameras scan the ocean's surface for plastic and calibrate the computer models to target areas with the highest plastic density.

On rivers, The Ocean Cleanup team uses its “Interceptor,” which again uses AI to determine depth, width, flow speed, and debris type, and then uses a conveyor belt to remove the garbage from the water. Picturing a cleaner world just got easier. Source: BBC.com