Podcasts are doing more for brands than anyone could have expected.
In this article
- Edison Podcasting Research
- Gartner Podcasting Research
- The Benefits of Podcasting for Global Brands
- 4 Benefits of Podcasting that Brands Should Know About
- 1. Brand Podcasts Only Connect With Audiences Who Have Expressed Interest in a Topic
- 2. Podcasts Perfectly Supplement Brands’ Blog and Video Strategies
- 3. Podcasts Are Accessible On Demand
- 4. Podcasts Enable You to Shift Gears and Earn Your Audience’s Audio Attention, as Opposed to Their Visual Attention
- A Brand Podcast Worth Showcasing
- Reinforce Your 2024 Brand Strategy With Podcasting
Even in 2024, the podcasting medium is still relatively young in the world of brand marketing, and is an untapped creative channel that can be used to build a relationship with your audience. Keep reading to find out why you should consider starting a corporate podcast for your brand.
Edison Podcasting Research
Recent studies conducted by Edison show that the podcasting industry is on the up and up, with a nearly 20% rate of growth and the total podcasting audience expected to double between 2020 and 2023.
With the growth of podcasting comes numerous massive opportunities for brands to begin partaking in this exciting content channel.
Gartner Podcasting Research
The folks at Gartner Research have come out with a list of tools that retailers should be taking advantage of. One of which is… you guessed it: podcasting!
This may be old news to us audio geeks, but it is helpful and encouraging to see that a research company with the authority of Gartner has come forward with a new recipe for retail success that includes our beloved podcasting medium.
The main message from Gartner was that we first have to embrace and trust the podcasting medium in order for it to thrive in our businesses.
Companies like Apple and Spotify have made podcasting mainstream through their streaming services, and recording and editing podcasts gets easier every day with new recording software and methods for distributing podcasts.
The Benefits of Podcasting for Global Brands
Brands typically have a strong understanding of their target audiences’ psychographic makeup. You can now craft podcasts that align with that information to help you connect with more consumers who have similar psychographic makeups, allowing you to connect with new potential customers.
Here are some notable brands that were among the first to harness the power of podcasting:
- Johnson and Johnson host Innovation
- Basecamp, the project management software company, produced REWORK
- Shopify produces two podcasts! Masters and Vanguard.
- LinkedIn has Hello Monday
4 Benefits of Podcasting that Brands Should Know About
1. Brand Podcasts Only Connect With Audiences Who Have Expressed Interest in a Topic
Those early adopters of branded podcasting have found a way to bring topics of interest to the exact audience who is both willing to tune in and is aligned with the brand. They may be reaching smaller audiences than marketers are used to setting their sights on, though. Branded or corporate podcasts typically have smaller, yet better quality audiences who are highly engaged and willing to binge listen to multiple episodes of the show.
Unlike the radio medium, which tends to span an assortment of topics throughout a single show with no hard-and-fast theme, podcasts generally possess an overarching subject matter. For example, Sephora’s podcast revolves around cosmetics, and Buffer discusses topics around social media marketing.
Listeners of these podcasts are going out of their way to choose this content and, in doing so, are expressing interest in these topics. This means that the audience, no matter how big or small, is highly relevant and highly qualified to be interacting with your brand.
2. Podcasts Perfectly Supplement Brands’ Blog and Video Strategies
If you’ve already figured out a blog and video content strategy, podcasting could be a natural next step for your brand. Tapping into the audience that already trusts and engages with you is a strategic way to begin the process of building a listenership for your podcast. You can create complementary content around the same subject and release them in tandem, which will help you promote your podcast to your readers.
John Wall, podcast co-host of Marketing Over Coffee, says:
“If you get it right, you’re never going to get more dedicated followers than podcast listeners.”
3. Podcasts Are Accessible On Demand
We have morphed into an on-demand society. The philosophy of having one opportunity to tune in to catch a live event is far behind us. We’ve grown accustomed to consuming our content when we feel like it, and not necessarily when it’s served.
Because of that, podcasts are flourishing. They’re available at the exact same moment when a listener decides they want to tune in—whether that’s the day it airs or six months after the fact.
Podcasts come with many episodes which can play back-to-back – this allows for binge listening that listeners can sometimes get consumed with. Like Wall illustrated above, when you get it right, those listeners will actively seek out your podcast and reward you for earning their undivided attention with downloads, star ratings, binging episodes, and overall growth in popularity.
4. Podcasts Enable You to Shift Gears and Earn Your Audience’s Audio Attention, as Opposed to Their Visual Attention
For the majority of the day, your audience is preoccupied with varying screen time priorities and other tasks that require their visual attention.
Making a play to gain more of your audience’s visual attention by inundating them with more blog posts and videos can be a losing battle, especially when you consider the on-demand consumption nature that we have come to prefer. At a bare minimum, our social channels, favorite online publications, and email newsletters allow us to bookmark content for our future selves so that we can come back and enjoy them later. So now, you’re not only competing for in-the-moment attention—your audience is booked through to tonight as well!
Rather than competing for more of their screen time, ask for their audio attention instead. Think of it this way: Which daily activities do you perform where you can simultaneously listen? In the shower, doing the dishes, folding laundry, driving to work, at the gym, out for a walk, etc. The list goes on. This is the perfect time to listen to content. Podcasts allow you to become part of these moments in your audiences’ day, and win their audio attention with your brand’s podcast.
A Brand Podcast Worth Showcasing
One perfect example of why brands create corporate podcasts, and how they fit into their overarching marketing strategy, is illustrated by Blue Apron‘s Why We Eat What We Eat.
If you’re a podcast listener, chances are you’ve encountered a Blue Apron advertisement in a show or two.
After dabbling in the medium for years through podcast advertising, in 2017 the brand took the full-on plunge and developed its own show. Why We Eat What We Eat explores “the unseen forces that guide and influence the decisions people make about food”.
Here’s what Blue Apron’s show-launching blog post says about how their brand fit podcasting into their overall content marketing strategy:
“Blue Apron focuses on creating premium content for customers across its product experience to further the company’s value for lifelong learning in the kitchen … Why We Eat What We Eat is a natural extension of Blue Apron’s existing storytelling capabilities and a new platform to dive deeper into topics and trends discovered through company data and feedback from home cooks across the country.”
This description demonstrates how Blue Apron leveraged what it knows about its customers’ psychographics and aspirations, and married them with more great content that serves the audience, this time, via the audio medium.
Reinforce Your 2024 Brand Strategy With Podcasting
Does your brand tell stories? Of course it does!
Do your products and services aim to enhance or ease your customers’ lives? If you don’t do this, you wouldn’t be in business.
With the above considered, there’s clearly a space for you in the podcasting medium as part of your overall content marketing strategy.
The next time you’re running dry on ways to continue pressing onward with your brand’s development, consider podcasting and the potential it holds. If you’re ready to learn more about the ins and outs of podcasting, check out our post about how to start a podcast.
Happy podcasting!
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