5 Reasons Why You Should Use a Podcast in Your Content Marketing Strategy

People are now tired of listening to their music playlist and are now listening to podcasts. These are packed with informative segments, with a perfect combination of entertainment, light-hearted chatter, and equally engaging. It is a suitable medium for businesses to align with a like-minded audience and is now becoming a significant content distribution source amongst many platforms. 

Knowing its importance, many businesses are still lagging in understanding its true potential; podcasts are not only informative yet engaging but are also a significant addition to your existing content strategy. There are many SEO benefits for the eCommerce sites lie in podcast promotion. 

When it comes to podcasting, it is no more a creative hobby for enthusiasts, just talking and listening- it has now evolved to many businesses opting for it as their major part of content strategy. Do you know, more than 90 million Australians will have consumed the content of podcasts in 2020? 

If these numbers still don’t encourage you to implement podcasts on your content strategy- then maybe (for sure!) you’d be losing a significant chunk of your audience for your brand. As the popularity of podcasts grows, more companies are now seeing the advantages and are planning to launch their own- especially for the business owners, brand enthusiasts, and content creators, and marketers. 

You may still think, “why should I start a podcast (either as an individual content creator or as a business)?” Well, they are goldmines. 

These content drives bring more engagement, build a loyal customer base, and can be repurposed in terms of videos or scripts. They can be clubbed into different content for a more effective niche content marketing plan for your brand/business. 

Infographic Courtesy: podminers.com

This is why niche experts believe that podcasting in your content marketing strategy is an important aspect of a well-curated content marketing plan. Rather than compartmentalising your audio material and treating it as a different forum from others for more standardised content (like, blog articles, published posts, etc), we believe that all of your brand’s content should work toward a standard set of objectives.

Let’s explore five of the top reasons you should add a podcast to your content strategy. 

They are very convenient and easy for the audience 

Most types of information, such as videos and blog pieces, require one to have undivided attention. However, with podcasts, one can listen to an episode almost anywhere — at work, while commuting, at home doing the chores, gym, and so on.

Smartphones are the most popular device for podcasts, enabling one to listen while on the go.  As mobile usage increases by 60% every year worldwide, content marketers need to churn out mobile-friendly content, and podcasts are already leading the way.

Although we’ve compared podcasts to regular radio shows, one key variation is that the audience no longer has to tune in at a designated time. It’s on-demand material, which is excellent for people based on how they consume the media. One of the main reasons for the podcast’s growing popularity is its convenience in multiple ways. 

This type of content is a boon in an era where people multi-tasks and where the daily commute contributes to the biggest hour of the day. Based on your targetted demographics, if it includes stay-at-home parents, working professionals, college-goers, or anyone who is trying to find leisure time in their busy schedule. Podcasts play a major role in being their favorite media. 

Understand this demographic report for the podcast-centric audience: 

• Around 40% of podcast listeners (monthly) range between the age category of 18-35 years, whereas, 30% of them are between 35-54. 
• 50% of podcast listeners (monthly)  over the age of 18 are full-time employees, 15% of part-time workers whereas 10% of them are students. 

They can be streamed easily and can be downloaded 

As per one report from the Podcast Consumer Report, it showcases that people prefer listening to podcasts on a portable device like their smartphones.  Another reason for the podcast’s growth is that audio is far smaller than video files, making them much easier to listen to or can be downloaded anytime, anywhere. And that accounts for a significant portion of its low-effort, commuter-friendly appeal. Podcasting allows you to provide compelling material to your audience on the move, despite the kind of data plans or quality of the connection. 

Podcasts are popular among commuters, more than 80% of daily commuters listen to their favorite podcast episode while going to and coming back from work. With the commencement and advancement of the pandemic (even though for a time being),  it has narrowed down the number of frequent commuters, but people still listen to podcasts at home. Approximately 65 percent of individuals listen to podcasts while working from home, doing chores, or even during their leisure hours. 

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The absolute flexibility that podcast listeners have while consuming content has surpassed all the other ways of different types of content that are now available.  People listen to podcasts while doing their work, multi-tasking with their chores which helps one to continue with their work and also consume the content, i.e engagement ratio rises. Your listeners can easily listen to an episode while doing their chores like cleaning dishes, gardening, working out, or even driving.  They know they can do the dishes or take the subway while constantly listening to it. 

Helps you to build a bond with your audience 

It is not preferred to use social media platforms to just talk about their brand and self-promotion. Similarly, you won’t start a podcast merely to talk about your business and for marketing purposes only. Nobody wants to hear the same thing over and over again. The root of good podcasting is, ‘telling a good story and having a great conversation with your audience’. 

It’s all about developing the identity of your brand, establishing its presence, and engaging your targeting audience, as you do on other social platforms. Since podcasting is more like having a conversation, an art of story-telling; it helps one to bond with the audience as it feels more intimate and relatable than a blog post. The fact that they’re hearing a human voice contributes to the bonding process — it’s far more intimate, approachable, and relatable than a blog article.

Podcast ads are effective 

Podcast listeners don’t seem to mind ad breaks and are impacted by the messages they hear. According to a recent survey of 200,000 podcast listeners, around 60% of people purchased something recommended by a host on their show. When asked if podcast advertising had influenced their behaviour, 70% indicated they had visited a sponsor’s website and 65% said they had evaluated a new product or service.

When it comes to ads, podcast hosts have greater creative freedom than hosts of radio shows. Whereas radio stations are bound by federal laws that govern what they can say in advertisements, podcast hosts are not.

They bring a high engagement 

In comparison to other entertainment formats, podcast engagement is very high – and it doesn’t stop at downloads- let’s discuss this step-by-step. 

Australians who listen to podcasts every week consume more than four hours of content every week. Podcast listeners also subscribe to five different podcasts on average. When one subscribes to a podcast channel, one usually receives an email when a new episode is uploaded- giving you a solid opportunity to promote episodes that help you to bring more audience on different social media channels. 

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The format of podcasts is also a big reason why they’re so popular. Many podcasts are just conversations. Reading (and remembering) a long blog post may demand great concentration, especially when the language of the content is quite complex. Listening to a podcast is like listening to a conversation, it gives the listener an opportunity to listen to the flow of information, participate and engage with it daily. 

Lastly, the repeating format allows you to achieve something that is both difficult and extremely important for businesses: developing relationships. 

Consider some of the podcasts you’re currently streaming: Does it give you a vibe that you already know the host? Even if you’ve never met the presenter of your favorite program, the repetitive structure and chance to add the mix of their personality into the podcast; helps you to engage with the listeners and build a loyal customer base.

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Keep your listeners interested and they will come back for more, word-of-mouth references regarding the content will bring more new customers. It is one of the proven strategies among the other prominent strategies to drive customers to your site.

Of course, creating entertaining podcast content takes expertise, just like live-streaming. Still, for many, it’s less daunting than appearing on camera, and it’s the ideal medium for showcasing your knowledge and establishing yourself, and your company, as market experts.

If you haven’t tried podcasts before, it might be worth your time to do so. Where does podcasting fit into your digital marketing strategy, according to the numbers?