Podcasting doesn’t work for every business, but it can be implemented into most. For those that decide to implement, the rewards can be great.
Podcasting started during the original iPod birth and has grown into an amazing powerful medium that creates community, build trust and invokes loyalty. You will find many different styles of podcasts from comedians, celebrities and businesses that have helped grow the style and you can find podcasts for almost anything.
So why Podcasting for business?
Business podcasting can be an incredible marketing tool. Using podcasting is a great way to build a new audience, develop trust and loyalty. Off the back of podcasts you also have a great ability to generate even more clients and sales.
Podcasts have grown in popularity over the last few years, not only is podcasting growing in popularity, but it’s also invokes loyalty. Around 80% of podcast listeners listen to all or most of each podcast episode and they listen to an average of seven shows per week. What an amazing way to have your customers and potential customers thinking about your business daily.
The benefits for podcasting in business are huge:
- Attract a new audience: Podcasts will help you to be found all over the world including areas you might not be marketing too.
- Build loyalty: A ‘fan’ of your podcast that gets value will continue to listen to your podcasts and continue to trust in your brand.
- Built trust: Podcasts can offer a lot of value. You can incorporate useful tips and insights, interviews and so much more. Offering value is what will build trust and loyalty.
- Attract customers for your business: This is the ultimate reason for most for starting a podcast. If your listeners become regular followers and trust you through your content they are more likely to reach out for your services. Many podcasts state that they have enquiries after a few episodes and it has become one of the most lucrative forms of marketing that they create!
Who is it for?
Podcasts are for almost everyone! There are podcasts about almost everything: fictional podcasts, comedy, parenting, podcasts for kids, business – the list is endless!
You don’t need to use a Podcast solely to sell, if that is the basis of your podcast it will ultimately fail. The trick is to use it as an educational tool. This can be in the form of tips, view, insights or something similar. The listener will relate and find value. This is how you should position the content.
To offer an example, if you product is Finance, you can create a podcast teaching your audience ways to manage finance, saving money , investing or discussing tactics or details about finance. Even just what the different types of Finance are. Someone who is buying a house for the first time might not know what APR is or how it works and find your podcast about this.
If you have a Food business, then you can leverage podcasting to share recipes or discuss cooking techniques.
For just about any industry, there is a way to use podcast marketing as a way to build trust, loyalty, reach a new audience and grow your business.
One of our customers uses Podcasts to deliver messages to their details about how the company is working, new rules or company changes to their Sales team. They have a 350+ Sales & Partner network that are on the road and emails just weren’t working. A podcast has bridged that gap and they have experienced an increase in engagement and it is working well. Podcasts don’t just need to be a Sales tool that can be practical in your business too.
So, where do you start?
How to get started
1. What’s your audience
Who do you want to reach? Who is your ideal listener or audience?
- Where are they from?
- What is their job?
- Age or gender?
- Interests?
- What will they need your content for?
2. What would your topic be?
What topics will work for your business? It needs to offer and be:
- Relevant to your target audience
- Provides value
- Be scale-able, can you create an infinite amount of episodes?
- Something that you know and are knowledgeable on
3. Format & Frequency
As with everything consistency is key; you need to be consistent with quality, frequency and overall format.
- Choose your podcast length: How long do you want your podcast to be? This may change on each topic but you need to keep it around the same time frame. Podcasts vary in length from around 10 minutes to hours.
- Choose your publishing frequency: This is where it’s most important to be consistent. Your listeners will want to know if its a weekly podcast that it will happen. This is where the loyalty comes in. They will buy in to your podcast and you need to have that discipline of producing when you say you will.
- Choose the right format: Video or Audio? Both have pro’s and con’s and there are so many platforms that you can post to. You need to decide what is going to work well for the demographic of your target audience.
4. Equipment
Making a great sounding podcast takes work and the right equipment. You can start a podcast with just your phone but you need to ensure that whatever you use it sounds the best it can. There are many elements of making a podcast and this list includes some of the basic. The key piece of advice is start with what you have and build up to the more professional equipment.
- Microphones
- Headphones
- Editing software
- Audio Interface
- Wires
Ensuring you have the best quality of podcast is key but it can be expensive and just using your phone might not work for you. So where do you go if you want to create a podcast but don’t have the equipment? Outsourcing is a possibility. You can pay for use of the equipment, hire an editor or have the whole process done for you. This is a great way to get started even if you don’t keep it up forever.
Speak to us about how we can help
5. Artwork
The genre, name and artwork is what will generate awareness and overall attention of your show.
Your artwork should:
- Be colourful to attract people’s attention
- Include the title of your podcast
- Be relevant to your show
There are many free tools that can help you achieve this or you could hire a designer to produce. Either way it needs to be good as this is the main thing that will help you generate listeners and grow.
Summary
Podcast marketing can be a amazing marketing and customer loyalty tool for your business. You can reach a wider audience and build trust in a way that few other forms of content can achieve. It doesn’t need to be expensive but the returns can be massive.
If you want to talk to use about how the Onzigo Digital can help create a podcast with you or just artwork, get in touch and we will be happy to help.
