Once known by the term ‘audioblogging’, the world of podcasting has
come a long way since its inception in the late 1980’s.
With over 2 million active podcasts in 2021, and US podcast ad revenue to
surpass $2 billion in 2023, the podcasting scene has been on a steady rise
since it began gaining traction back in 2004.
While there are several notable podcasters that have played significant roles
in advancing the podcasting revolution, such as Joe Rogan (who is well
known for smoking weed with Elon Musk), there are also many companies
and start-ups that have made their own contributions to the growing
industry.
As such, podcasts have become a useful tool for these companies to
capitalize on this increasingly popular form of media communication.
Here’s 5 reasons why a podcast could help your business:
1. Podcasts help you reach out to high-value customers
In its most basic form, the typical podcast requires two things: an
interviewer (host) and an interviewee (guest).
As such, this provides companies with the ability to invite potential
high-value accounts onto their podcast (see our last
article
on how tools like podcasts can be part of your Account Based Marketing
campaign).
These can be companies which would not otherwise know about your product
or service, and therefore even if they decline your invitation, you still gain
brand awareness from some of your biggest potential clients.
However, for those that don’t decline, you’ll be able to ask them anything you
want. You can learn their needs, how your product or service fits into
their business model, and even if both of your companies would be a good
fit strategically.
Inviting existing customers onto the podcast can also prove useful if you turn
them into enthusiastic advocates for your brand. Let them be the ones who
tell your audience how good or useful your product really is.
2. Having a podcast can improve your search rank on Google
Similarly to writing blogs, podcasts have many positive benefits when it comes
to boosting traffic to your website.
Having podcasts on your page can not only increase traffic, but they’re also
likely to increase the average time spent on the site, and they can
generate backlinks to your page as well.
Another trick to improve your search rank is to publish the transcript
and/or show notes of each podcast episode. This helps your site rank for
relevant keywords after its indexed by search engines.
3. A podcast can help position your start-up as a leading authority
Listening is the new reading. In other words, reading is clunky, and it
often makes multi-tasking difficult.
Hence why people have slowly gravitated towards audio-based mediums of
knowledge consumption.
Moreover, recent studies on memory have found that people are able to recall
twice as much information from audio as they do from text.
Because of this, podcasts allow you to dive deep into a subject without
losing a great deal of attention from your audience.
As such, by acting as an expert in the given subject, you can position
yourself and your brand as a leading authority, enhancing your credibility
in the process.
While having a large audience will be unlikely for most start-ups, it’s
important to make sure that those who do listen to it understand that you
actually know what you’re talking about.
4. Podcasts can help improve conversions
Podcasting is another way of reaching out to your target audience; allowing
you to establish a greater connection with them.
By continuously placing yourself as an expert in the industry, your
listeners will start to associate your podcast as a credible source of
information.
Your audience is also much more inclined to trust you if they know what
you sound like rather than just reading your blog posts.
Thus, as you release more episodes, you deepen your trust with potential
customers, making them want to be associated with you.
When your audience perceives you as a friend as opposed to a stranger, there’s
a higher likelihood that they will buy from you; ultimately boosting your
conversion rate.
5. It’s pretty easy to get started
With low barriers to entry, the podcasting scene is very easy to get into for
new companies. And for money-tight, bootstrapped start-ups, it requires very
few resources.
A working mic, a computer, and a Wi-Fi connection is really all
that’s needed to start. Including video is recommended but definitely not
essential, especially if you’re just starting out.
For the start-ups looking to target specific high-value accounts, or
simply to boost website traffic, podcasting can serve as a useful tool
which won’t put a large dent in your balance sheet.
