Podcast listenership is growing year-on-year and more businesses are turning to podcasts as a form of content marketing. You may be asking yourself “How can a podcast help my business?” Whether you’re a solopreneur, a small startup or an established company, incorporating a podcast into your marketing strategy can bring remarkable benefits.
Here are 7 benefits of starting a podcast for your business.
1. Amplify Your Brand’s Voice
A podcast allows your brand to speak up – literally. It’s a clarion call to your ideal customers. A podcast can allow you to express your brand’s values, mission, and culture in a way that captures more attention than text-based content.
If you can express your brand’s voice in a compelling way that captures your ideal customers’ attention and keeps them listening, then a podcast can be incredibly rewarding.
2. Humanise Your Brand
Podcasts breathe life into your brand by allowing your audience to hear from the people who make up your business. Your podcast can feature a solo host (such as the CEO), a host and a guest from your industry, or multiple team members.
Authenticity is the key here. It’s up to your host and team members to be as authentic as possible and share their stories, making your brand relatable and approachable.
Whichever format you choose, a podcast can help your audience to form a parasocial relationship with the host(s) and help them to get to know, like and trust you and your brand.
3. Expand Your Reach
Podcasts provide a golden opportunity to expand your reach beyond your existing customer base. Through popular podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube, your brand can attract potential customers who may never have found you otherwise.
This is especially the case if you craft a podcast that offers immense value that’s tailored to your ideal customer.
A podcast complements your existing content strategy, adding a new dimension to your marketing efforts. Instead of solely relying on written blog posts (which typically get less engagement) or social media updates (which can be difficult to get in front of those not already following you).
People consume content in different ways. Diversifying your content formats allows you to cater to a wider audience and keep them engaged across various platforms.
4. Learning From Your Audience
Another way that a podcast can help your business is the real-time feedback and insights you receive from your listeners. Through reviews, comments, and social media engagement, you can gather valuable info about your audience’s preferences, pain points, and interests.
Your podcast analytics are also a great source of info. Which of your episodes are performing the best? You may see a pattern, giving you insight into your audience’s wants and needs.
This feedback loop enables you to refine your content across the board and ensure you’re consistently delivering what your audience craves.
5. Establish Authority and Expertise
By sharing valuable insights, industry trends, and expert advice on your podcast, you position yourself as an authority and thought leader in your niche. Even if you’re not yet the expert that you’d like to be in your niche, hosting leaders within the industry links their expertise to your brand and can also help you gain more knowledge.
Consistently delivering high-quality content not only showcases your expertise but also builds trust with your audience. As you become a trusted source of info, your ideal customers will be more inclined to learn more about what you have to offer.
6. Monetisation Opportunities
That’s right, podcasts aren’t just for marketing, they can be an alternative source of income, too. As your podcast grows in popularity, you can explore sponsorship opportunities, partnerships, sell your own products through the podcast, or even create premium content for subscribers.
Monetisation not only helps cover podcast production costs but can also become an additional revenue stream for your business.
7. Stay Ahead of the Curve
Podcasts continue to soar in popularity, with over 5 million currently published. It’s hard not to look at numbers like that and feel like you’re too late. But podcasting is still growing fast year-on-year, and advertisers are spending more and more in the podcasting space each year.
By getting started now, you can still grab a competitive edge over those who have yet to explore podcasting. Even if successful podcasts in your industry exist already, your unique perspective, personality or approach has the opportunity to stand out.
Getting Started
And this list isn’t exhaustive! Depending on your specific business, there may be other ways that a podcast can help your business. The most important thing is that you keep your ideal customer in mind. Ask yourself (and ask them!), what kind of podcast do they want to listen to?
A podcast takes work to get started and it takes consistent content creation for it to gain traction. But the best time to start one was yesterday, and the second best is today! The sooner you start, the faster you can start growing your podcast and reaping the benefits.
