So, you’re thinking about starting a company podcast but you haven’t got round to doing it yet, we give you three reasons why this form of audio content might be just what your business’s content strategy needs.
In this digital age, podcasts make marketing sense, less people are reading and more people own mobile devices, meaning you need to adapt your content strategy to cater to these changes and when done right, this easily shareable content will allow your business’s message to reach far and wide.
1. Podcasts are adaptable content
Podcasts can be listened to anywhere and anytime. How people consume content is changing, people are watching less TV and switching to online platforms and most people don’t have time to read articles, meaning it’s getting harder and harder to reach potential customers. Like most audio content, podcasts are quick and easy to consume, but what further sets them apart is that they don’t require undivided attention.
Chris Drucker states the speed appeal of podcasts: ‘The average blog posts is approximately 700-words, which can can be read in about 5-minutes. However, the average podcast is 35-minutes which translates into 4,550 words, the equivalent of 6.5 blog posts.’
Basically, podcasts can slip easily into our daily lives and this is appealing to audiences. People need content which they can digest while doing other tasks – time is the most precious commodity in modern day living and podcasts provide businesses with a way to effectively reach consumers while doing other activities. This means that your opportunity to reach your consumer is limitless, whether they are cooking, running or travelling they can have their podcast with them.
Entrepreneur.com confirms this idea: ‘Your podcast won’t take them away from those activities; it will enrich them.’
2. You Can Sway Your Consumers Decisions
Unlike print advertising, podcasts allow your business to develop a personality and a literal voice, which is a powerful tool when seeking to influence your target consumers decisions. By creating a podcast you can confirm your brand’s identity and become seen as a valid source of information in any given field.
Harvard Business Review reiterates this idea by stating that podcasters can ‘build a bond of trust through analysis, insight, and storytelling.’
Once you have this relationship of trust with your customers, it’s a strong way to be able to influence them during decision-making processes and USA today states that:
‘hosting a show can definitely help establish you as an expert, a thought leader, and as such it’s a unique opportunity’
3. You Can Create Timeless Content
Podcasts have a long and indefinite shelf life. This final point could be seen both positively and negatively, however, if good content is created it’s undeniably a positive point – you are creating company advertising, for free, with no time limit. It also means that old customers will you return to your brand for information and new ones will seek you out.
Forbes.com confirms this idea: ‘Podcasts aren’t a one-time creation; once you’ve recorded them, they’ll be available from your channel, indefinitely. In that way, they have a similar shelf life to evergreen content—so long as you’re choosing topics with an intent to last.’
This means you will really need to plan each piece of content carefully and be prepared to adjust your content depending on how it’s received by your listeners to make sure you continue to be seen as a reliable information source.
As the number of people listening to podcasts rapidly increases, it makes increasing sense to tap into this market for your business: Entrepreneur.com gives the incredible fact that ‘Over the last 10 years, the number of people, who have listened to a podcast, has more than tripled.’
Furthermore, podcasts make economical sense, they require minimal investment and technology to get started. Once integrated into your content plan they allow you to reach a wider customer base, including niche audiences, with the main resource required being your time, to ensure that the content you produce is worth listening to for years to come.
All big businesses have been podcasting for a long time and nowadays most smaller businesses are tapping into the medium to reach greater audiences and increase profits; so if you haven’t already begun podcasting you might want to start.
