Podcasts are really cool. Since 2005, they’ve grown to become one of the most powerful marketing and advertising streams, and sources of information. What is even more impressive is that the podcasting space is relatively young and still growing. There is plenty of potential and it comes as no surprise that they get talked about a whole lot.
In some encouraging stats, Canadian podcast consumers listen to an average of five podcasts per week. 49% of these listeners consume between 3 hours to 10 hours or more of podcasts weekly. That is very high consumption.
If you are reading this blog post, you have probably considered the idea of starting a podcast already. The question you likely want answered is “Should I start a podcast to market my business?”
Easy answer – maybe.
Here are a few reasons why you might want to start a podcast for your business.
1 – Develop a unique marketing avenue.
Podcasts provide a wonderful avenue to reach a one-of-a-kind audience. They do very well at targeting individuals based on their interests and preferences. You can really narrow down your audience. In the US, podcast listeners are 68% more likely to be postgraduates and a whopping 45% are more likely to have over $250,000 in annual income. That means they are also likely to be able to spend money on your products and services due to their disposable income. 38% of people who listen to podcasts state that they have purchased products or services mentioned on those podcasts. Having a podcast helps you to reach such potential customers without being confined geographically.
2 – Establish authority in your industry or on a particular subject.
Just as you would do when creating blogs or social media posts to leverage a platform in promoting your business, a podcast can do that and more. Podcasts create a connection with your audience in such a way that once they are hooked, they are likely to devote a lot of time listening to your show every week. When your audience regards you as an expert in your field, it is an easier task to convince them to spend money on your products and services.
3 – You have enough time to do so.
Business owners are usually busy people regardless of the size of your business. Podcasting is not the hardest thing to do and all you need is a smartphone to get started nowadays. However, it still requires time and effort at the very least, to be a meaningful traffic and lead generator for your business. You don’t want to end up in the Podfading bucket that thousands of podcasts find themselves in every year. Podfading is when you stop producing a podcast along the way with no prior warning or intent to do so. It just happens. I’ve experienced this one first hand. The excitement of producing a podcast is real and for weeks on end you could devote countless hours to getting episodes out but sooner or later life and busy schedules get in the way. You skip one week and say you will get an episode out the next… then it’s 2 weeks… 3 weeks… 4 weeks… until it’s been a year. It leaves your audience hanging.
4 – An alternative to video.
If you are like me, when I see people becoming overnight stars through YouTube, Facebook and other video platforms, I wonder what would happen if I started doing videos. Then I quickly retreat to the reality of why I would never do that – I am not comfortable in front of a camera and most likely never will be. For that reason I simply would not entertain the idea of marketing my business using videos. I suspect I am not alone. Podcasts are a great alternative to video. They are one of the top ways people consume content on the go. Us humans are such a busy bunch we spend a considerable amount of time out and about. I particularly enjoy podcasts on the go for the offline listening capabilities – who knows when I’ll be stuck on the subway and need something to carry me through?
5 – Organise your thoughts and strategise for your business.
When you are coming up with topics for your podcast, you may not realise this but you are segmenting different aspects of your business into consumable chunks. An example is if you are in the fashion accessories business, you may consider doing an episode on Christmas gift trends for your niche. This might prompt you to research a bit more and stumble upon inspirational ideas for your business. The more you come up with specific topics and do research around them to improve your podcast presentation, the better you will become at it. In turn, such an approach will help you to develop a multi-dimensional focus for your niche-related offerings. These subsequently become ways to improve your product range and grow sales.
6 – Building better relationships with your audience.
For a one-sided medium, podcasts are very good at building customer relationships with listeners. According to Edison Research Podcast Consumer Report 2019, podcast listeners are more likely to follow companies and brands on social media. This presents a huge opportunity for your business because there is a building of trust, something that is not easy to establish especially online. Where such a relationship is valuable is that brand trust leads to higher conversions. Wouldn’t your business like that?
In the next installment of this blog series, I will look at a step by step guide to starting a podcast for your business.
