What is podcast marketing?

Why podcast?

You may not believe your company is a good fit for a podcast, but you might be surprised. While many podcasts are made solely for amusement, others are more niche and business-oriented. For practically every industry, there is a large, unmet market demand for instructive, specialty podcasts.

Whether you run a marketing firm or a SaaS company that provides on-demand tax services, there's a good chance you'll find a market. Keep a watch on your marketing statistics, though, to make sure your podcast is generating leads and inquiries so you don't overspend.

Of course, marketing is most effective when all avenues are explored. Consider sending cold emails to complement your podcasting, or develop a free trial marketing campaign.

Various elements in Barometric will allow you to track your marketing operations and determine which ones offer the best return on investment.

Podcast marketing

Podcast marketing is the process of developing and distributing original audio material to promote yourself, your products, or your services. Without being excessively promotional, free material is shared with listeners to influence and inform them on how your products or services might help them or their sector.

Why should businesses do podcast marketing?

Podcasting is time-consuming, but it's a terrific method to reach a large, interested audience. Nearly half of the population of the United States listens to podcasts regularly. Following the pandemic, podcast listenership climbed by 42% in the United Kingdom.

A radio advertising normally lasts 15 to 30 seconds, which means you have to pack as much information about your business into that time. Podcasts can range in length from five minutes to an hour or more, allowing you to delve into your company's use cases, benefits, and history.

Because you can invite panelists and guests, have customers call in with questions, or tell stories using various audio forms, podcasts are far more entertaining than long-form prose.

Benefits of podcasting

If you're still not convinced, consider the following advantages of podcasting for your business:

Increased brand awareness: Your podcast, like any other kind of digital marketing, creates impressions.

Connection with potential customers: Podcasting has a personal sense to it—you're not simply an ad or a website, but a voice they can hear in their drive or at home. It's a fantastic approach to engaging your audience.

Building authority: It establishes authority and trust in the brand when employees appear on a podcast in their role as experts.

For these reasons, Baremetrics publishes the Founder Chats podcast, in which we interview entrepreneurs on their experiences establishing and growing firms. While expanding our brand exposure, the exhibition allows us to share dialogues that our consumers and future customers find beneficial and inspiring.

Best practices for creating a podcast

Any business can benefit from podcast marketing, but it's not easy. It necessitates a considerably larger time commitment than a digital ad campaign or email marketing campaign. Here are some pointers on how to make a successful podcast:

Scale realistically: It takes time to create a high-quality podcast. Preparing content, recording, editing, locating guests, and advertising the podcast may all take up a lot of time. Create a few test episodes, keep a watch on your Baremetrics marketing analytics, and assess whether the investment is worthwhile. Adjust the scope if necessary. If a weekly episode isn't possible, a monthly episode could be.

Publish regularly: Your podcast's listeners need to know when and where they may listen to it. You must post your episodes regularly, whether monthly or weekly. The most typical podcast frequencies are probably weekly and biweekly. Each week, try to post on the same day.

Create a pipeline: For your first five episodes, make a pipeline. Plan to record a few episodes ahead of time to discover what works best for you in terms of format, audio quality, and style. If you have numerous episodes available for download, you'll get more visibility on outlets like iTunes.

Don’t skimp on microphones: Although you can record a podcast on your iPhone, it is recommended that you purchase some equipment. Nobody likes to listen to a podcast with poor audio quality and distracting background noise. Microphones can help you drown out the noise and make listening much more enjoyable.

Promote your podcast: Building an audience takes time, so don't rely just on word-of-mouth. Share your podcast on social media and invest a small amount of money in it. (In the next point, we'll go over the numerous different ways to advertise your podcast!) Although organic development is conceivable, you should still enlist the help of your digital marketers to get a good start.

How to promote your podcast—podcast marketing

If you want to get the maximum mileage out of your podcast, you'll need to invest some time promoting it, as described in the points above. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Invite guests with big audiences

Invite high-profile guests when you first start. This may be a social-media-savvy client, an industry thought leader or a member of your executive team with a sizable Twitter following.

You may even invite a fellow podcaster to co-host with you because podcasters are a helpful community. Request that they post a link to the podcast when it goes online, or that they mention it on air if they have their own podcast.

Promote the podcast online

Make rich media that you may use to advertise your podcast. Sound bites, phrases, and photos will all do well on the internet. Request that your staff assists in spreading the word! You may reach 50,000 people right away if you have 100 employees and pals, each with 500 followers.

Purchase a commercial on a similar podcast if you can to let people know it exists. It's far less expensive than other broadcast channels, plus you'll reach a podcast-loving audience.

Publish thee podcasts at once

As previously stated, attempt to publish a few at a time. This raises the chances of your podcast being included in the New and Notable section of iTunes and other platforms.

Convert the podcast to video

Converting your podcast into a video that can be shared on YouTube is a smart idea. YouTube is a significant SEO driver that will help you be found. You may even stream the podcast live on Facebook or Instagram to get audience feedback as you speak!

Transcribe your podcast

You can transcribe your episode and include it in the show notes. If you include forms in your notes, transcription will help your SEO and allow you to acquire leads. These notes can also be used as a source for quotes for articles and press releases.

Give away a few prizes

Discounts and prizes are something that everyone enjoys. Customers who join up using a promo code mentioned in the podcast could receive introductory coupon codes for your products and services, free consultations, or even company swag. It's a terrific method to see how effective your podcast is as a marketing tool—and, of course, to make money.

Make guest appearances

Podcasters, as previously stated, are a community. To promote your new show, appear as a guest on comparable or industry-related podcasts if you can. Asking to be on a podcast is the greatest method to get on one, but you need also bring something to the table. Prepare a brief explanation of why the podcaster's audience might be interested in hearing about the topic you'd like to explore. Include a bio with a link to your podcast and a link to your LinkedIn profile.

Share your content

Try to participate in social media forums relating to your industry so you can share the link with potential listeners. But don't just show up and spam the groups; add value by leaving insightful comments, notes, and articles.

Include links to your podcasts in your email signatures, and always include social share buttons in the show notes so that listeners can stay in touch with you after the show has ended.