Three R's of Podcasting

I'm often asked - what kind of metrics should we expect when publishing a health podcast?

When it comes to making meaningful content that really makes an impact with target audiences, we need to shift the way we measure success beyond simple metrics like "downloads."

Measuring downloads of, for example, a 20-minute podcast doesn't accurately characterize the time that a person spends with the content, or reflect the value and effectiveness of the investment in sharing the message with that individual.

The alternative is to focus on three areas which I call the 'Three R's of Podcasting'.

1) Relevance (aka "contextual relevance") - Is there alignment of content with the specific context in which the audience is engaged??Is the message appropriate for the situation, environment, or timing in which they are experiencing the content?

2) Relatability - Does the content create a personal connection with the relevant audience, and reach them in the places where they spend their time? (Hint: podcasts?are great for this since they don't require screen time!)?

3) Resonance - Is the message meaningful to its target audience? Will it develop interest, loyalty, be memorable, and will they share it with others? And, will it empower them to take action?

Yes, these areas are more difficult to measure than downloads, and they don't easily produce a graph that goes up and to the right....

...but who said advancing and improving healthcare would be easy?

By combining these three 'R's we can deliver the fourth R: ROI.

Consider these three factors - Relevance, Relatability and Resonance - in relation to the following content categories. We've all seen widespread investment by health providers, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and insurance companies in the following ways:

a) video ads that are served to domestic passengers on in-flight entertainment systems,

b) radio ads that are aired to 'drive time' listeners who happen to be in their car between 4-6pm Monday to Friday,

c) and TV commercials that are shown to viewers who watch cable TV, morning shows and sports.

These campaigns cost millions of dollars in production and distribution, and scatter their messages to everyone regardless of the relevance (or lack of it) between their message and the audience.

Alternatively, these same companies can attract and serve target audiences by leveraging contextually relevant, information-rich, high-quality content that shares the perspectives of patients, health experts and care partners.

After all, as brands compete for attention, which metric is more valuable:?

a) 100m viewers of a 30-second Tiktok video,

or

b) 100,000 people who completed 90+% of a 16-minute podcast?

The beauty of well-crafted #podcasts is that you don't need choose!

Audio-first programming ('podcasts') can deliver both audiences by engaging across multiple platforms at the time and place they choose to consume content!

If you can't tell - I love finding ways to reach and serve audiences combining content, storytelling techniques, and technology, so if you'd like to learn more, please drop me a line.

Mission Based Media | Health Podcast Network | Digital Health Today | Health UNMUTED