Why Podcast? Is it Worth the Bother?
Why should you even consider podcasting? Isn’t it just another time sucker that will be more hassle than it’s worth? Well, that depends on your business and who you are trying to communicate with.
Recent research has shown than around 50% of online users have downloaded a podcast, with 18% listening to one every day. Podcasts are no longer just enjoyed by the young and technically advanced – more people in the 55+ age range are listening to podcasts than teenagers. Research has also shown that podcast listeners have high incomes, and are more likely to be online buyers.
In my first guest post I mentioned why audio works so well in a marketing campaign and with podcasting these reasons are especially true:
- It’s easier to communicate through audio and video than through the written word, and listeners tend to absorb and retain more information this way.
- In podcasts you are able to convey emotions and subtleties of language that may be lost in your writing.
- Podcasting offers the opportunity to create a more personal connection and convey your sincerity and passion for your subject
As well as these reasons you should also consider that:
- Podcasts are a rapidly growing medium for reaching an international audience and are still seeing significant market growth, but in many ways are in their infancy so there are fewer competitors in each niche
- Compared to other marketing methods, podcasting is relatively cheap to get started and a cost-effective method of continually reaching new people, especially for small businesses
- Podcasts are the only broadcast medium that allow you to truly narrow your focus to a specific target market or demographic. You have a huge potential audience but you only communicate with those who are interested in your area of expertise (unlike radio advertising where you broadcast to everyone and hope a percentage of relevant people hear your message).
- Podcasting offers your listeners more choice and control. They can listen at a time that suits them which means they are going to be more receptive to what you are sharing. Not everyone has time or inclination to sit reading at a computer for long periods of time, but they will take a podcast away and listen to it in the car, at the gym or while doing the housework.
- When people download a podcast they are a captive audience. They are really interested in what you have to say and have committed to listening to it. In fact, when someone downloads a podcast they are intending to listen solely to that audio and give it their full attention, shutting out other noise and distractions.
I hope this post has given you a better idea of why podcasts can be so useful to your business marketing and made you more excited about creating your own.
A great method for creating podcast content is through interviews with different experts within you niche. In fact, interviews are wonderful for lead generation and product creation too, and I’ll be focusing on them in my next guest blog post.
About: Lisa Hartwell
Lisa Hartwell is a voiceover, audio producer and niche marketer, based in the beautiful county of Devon in the UK. She created her Audible Marketing blog - http://audiblemarketing.com - to help others overcome their fear of creating their own audio products and to offer inspiration for ways to use audio to progress their business.Freebies
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Andee Sellman
Hi Lisa,
Great thoughts on podcasting. Lots of our clients like to listen to material in their cars while driving around and many cars now have ipod adaptors.
I would be lost without my ipod and if a podcast is well done it can be a very warm form of communicating with people becasue you can get the ‘feel’ of the communication through the inflections in a person’s voice.
Dennis Edell
Hi Lisa,
Awesome thoughts indeed. I have wanted to break into this for a long time, but, talk about info overload!
I read the 2nd paragraph twice and it makes a lot of sense….any ideas on how podcasts might be effective in a “physical product” site sense?
Lisa
Thanks Dennis.
In many businesses I see podcasts as an indirect marketing method – “under the radar” almost. Podcasts cannot be pure advertising. They should provide value and substance. So, if you are selling baby toys you might produce a podcast about “Bringing up Baby.” Book sellers could create a podcast book club.
There is almost always an angle that can be found for a podcast. For example, Whirlpool in the US built brand loyalty and recognition by targeting their key demographic with a podcast called American Life, dealing with family (and especially mom) issues.
Dennis Edell
Hey thanks Lisa, I’m sure I can come up with some ideas
jason
Hi Everyone,
Someone has the technology to remove ads from podcast, probably buffering the audio stream in order to achieve that. Now all of you seems to be quite savvy with podcast. Will you buy this technology if it becomes available? Is ads in a podcast really irritating?