When you use a podcast as a tool to grow your business, you can increase brand awareness, loyalty and establish yourself as a credible source of information within your industry. While it may seem that everyone is launching a podcast these days, they still make powerful marketing tools despite the competition. As more and more people continue to seek out podcasts, it is possible to carve out a space for yourself.
Advantages of Using Podcasts to Grow Your Business
Perhaps one of the most appealing advantages of podcasting is its limitless possibilities. Podcasts have a moldable format that can cover a multitude of subjects through interviews, conversations and storytelling. Any business in any industry can use the format and platform to create a relevant, informative podcast.
Podcasts also have a broad reach. You can expand your audience and reach untapped demographics when you use a podcast as a tool to expand your business. According to Statista, there were 120 million podcast listeners in 2021, which is expected to rise to 164 million by 2024. You can boost brand awareness with a podcast by drawing in new listeners.
The advantages of using podcasts expand further than the podcast itself. When increasing content marketing efforts to grow brand awareness, podcasts make great subjects for blog posts, social media and video content.
Short excerpts and interviews from the podcast can be written up and posted to the website to garner more traffic. Social media can promote the podcast from posting the link to cutting excerpts and sharing them.
Many people choose to film their podcasts to reach viewers who prefer a visual component. Clips from these videos can promote the podcast and brand on social media as well, whether as a YouTube short or on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram.
How to Stand Out From the Competition
Podcasts are immensely popular, and with over 100 million listeners, the field is incredibly saturated. If dipping your toes into the podcasting world for the first time, you must understand that there is tremendous competition.
Assess the competition to determine the value your podcast can add. Are there any demographic blindspots your content can fill? Any overlooked topics that can help you stand out from the crowd?
It is critical that you understand your target demographic before posting the first podcast. Know their interests and the nuances of your business’s industry so you can create informative and engaging content that the competition is ignoring.
Because podcast production can be involved, from securing interviews to scripting and editing, establish achievable goals and KPIs to help you maintain focus on the reason why you created a podcast in the first place: to grow your business.
To create KPIs, first determine your goals. According to Inc., these goals can include improving the quality of your brand awareness, increasing sales and lead generation or improving internal communication. Once you have established your goals, determine the KPIs necessary to track your progress.
However, competition does not have to be negative. Use it to your advantage by reaching out to other podcasts within the industry for a chance to collaborate. When featured on another podcast for an interview or guest appearance, guests are given a chance to promote their work while offering a snippet of their expertise to a new audience.
It is an opportunity to reach new listeners, network with other businesses, drum up interest in your content and ultimately use the podcast as a tool to grow your business.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Podcasting
What works for one podcast might not work for the other, so the do’s and don’ts of podcasting are not hard and fast rules. However, there are tips to keep in mind as you produce your first podcast.
It is easy to be spoiled by choice while producing a podcast; however, staying focused is essential to the podcast’s success. When you spread your content too thin, the podcast tends to be only skin-deep and cannot compete with podcasts produced by experts, Inc. writes. Remain focused on your expertise and allow high-quality content to elevate it.
Proper interview prep is also critical to the podcast’s success. If having a guest on your podcast, your prep work should exceed basic research such as what they’re promoting or the topics you will cover.
Create an interview checklist to aid the conversation. According to NPR, the checklist should include the segment’s focus, who the guest is, the questions you want to ask and the logical arc of the interview. Their checklist even includes bullet points for after the interview and the edit.
While some podcast creators film their podcasts, podcasts remain a predominately auditory form of entertainment. The best podcasts feel as if they’re having a conversation with their listeners, NPR notes.
The key to sounding natural on-air is to write the script like a conversation. According to NPR, use short sentences, familiar words and plenty of verbs. Write the podcast like you talk, not how you think you should talk. Listeners want to relate to the host, so speak to them as if they are your friend.
Be a Voice Within Your Industry
When you dedicate a podcast to a niche within your industry, you create an air of credibility. Podcasts provide listeners with a free, valuable service with expert information and entertainment. As you build your audience and their trust, they will recognize your brand as an authority on the subject.
Podcasts make an effective tool to grow your business because they establish and deepen the relationship between a brand and its consumers. Podcasts can pull back the curtain on a business, make the brand relatable and nurture trust and loyalty with their listeners.
When you put a voice to a brand, the brand starts to feel more personal. Customers will turn to the brand that feels familiar, one they have a personal connection with. By producing a branded podcast, you expand your audience and build trust, ultimately generating the growth your business needs.