Page 15 - Engage -- Fall 2018 -- no.14

Fall 2018
13
well: the study showed that 22 percent of podcast listeners now listen in their vehicle, 18 percent more than in 2017. “Have podcast, will travel,” you might say.
If you got this far and you happen to be one of the 56 percent of Americans above age 12 who have not listened to a podcast, let’s go over some basic knowledge. The term podcast describes a set of digital audio files that are available online, sort of like a short radio show or interview that you, the listener, can download and listen to whenever and wherever you want (that last part is the beauty of it all). Think of it as talk radio on your cell phone, sorted by subject matter. You can download one episode of a podcast in a series
or subscribe to the podcast and receive the files as soon as a new episode is uploaded by the provider. If this all sounds very exotic and foreign to you, find some podcasts you might like and start listening. You’ll be surprised how easy it is and how much you’ll learn.
WHY PODCAST
So, what does all this mean to you, the marketer? Sure, the most popular podcasts in America might be made by famous people (e.g., Joe Rogan) and big media companies (e.g., TED Talks), but you don’t need millions of listeners for a podcast to have an impact on your business. While big brands such as GE, Basecamp, Sephora, and Spotify have proven that podcasts can attract a healthy audience of dedicated
A podcast is an ideal and cost-effective way to deliver valuable information to your most qualified potential consumers and customers.
listeners, there’s a place for podcasts to help your marketing efforts too.
For starters, a podcast is an ideal and cost- effective way to deliver valuable information to your most qualified potential consumers and customers—what sales teams refer to as qualified prospects. It’s great content for your corporate blog and social media channels, and the longer format lets you build trust with your audience by sharing your expertise on a subject matter and delivering advice and information in a person-to- person format. You’re also free from the word- limit confines of ad copy or even a blog post.
If you’re tired of sending email newsletters to thousands of people who never open them, why not try creating a podcast for the 5 or 10 percent who do want to hear from you? A good podcast will attract new listeners, increasing the subscribers to your email database, today’s holy grail of corporate marketing metrics. And there is evidence to support the notion that listeners of podcasts are like NASCAR fans when it comes to showing loyalty with their wallets. A survey by
Internal Midroll of 300,000 podcast listeners found that 63 percent of people had bought something a host had peddled to them during a show.
GETTING STARTED
The best part of all these potential benefits
is that the path to achieve them is relatively simple and inexpensive when compared
to other forms of content marketing. The equipment you’ll need can range from the more elaborate (a full audio studio with all the bells and whistles) to the simple (two microphones and a recorder). And unlike with video content, you don’t need expensive equipment or the extensive know-how or expertise to use it.
Before you’ve purchased all your gear
and started to speak into the microphone
with someone important, you should have jotted down some plans and answered some questions: Why should people listen? What value will you deliver to them? Who will host, and will there be more than one host or guest? What will be the subjects of your first several episodes? Will there be themes (seasonal
or otherwise)? What will the name of your podcast be? (It should be something that people can easily find when they search for that subject matter.) How long will each episode be? (A shorter podcast episode is 15 minutes, but some stretch for more than an hour.) How frequently will you release new episodes?