Some time ago, I stopped listening to the same, tired Spotify playlist every morning and began listening to podcasts.
Packed with information and the perfect sprinkle of entertainment and light-hearted banter, podcasts are incredibly engaging and a useful medium for businesses and listeners alike. They are the sleeping giant of content types, though.
Most businesses don’t understand the true potential behind podcasts. And there’s a huge number of reasons why they are the perfect addition to any existing content strategy.
Let’s explore ten of the top reasons to add podcasting to your content assets.
1. Podcasts Have Low Competition
The content marketplace is competitive, like really competitive.
Successful digital marketers find big wins with their content when they find a content type or topic with high engagement and low competition. That’s exactly what a podcast provides.
While there are around 80 million Facebook business pages, there’s only 700,000 podcasts airing. This number shrinks when you search by topics.
There may be only a handful of other podcasts discussing the topics relevant to your business, with hundreds-to-thousands of listeners.
With this low competition, it’s far easier to have your podcast stand out and gain listeners!
2. Engaging & Convenient for Listeners
Podcasts require little effort to engage with, on the listener’s behalf.
Unlike written blog content, which has to be read, or even videos that require audiences to sit and watch. All a podcast listener has to do is hit play and listen.
It’s the perfect content type for multi-tasking, which most of us are doing on a constant basis anyways.
If content is too demanding of time or attention, it’s hard for audiences to want to engage.
Finding time to listen to a podcast is easier, because it only asks for the attention of the customer’s ears. We can listen while we work or play.
3. Another Mobile-Friendly Content Option
Part of the low-effort, multi-tasking richness of podcasts is due to how mobile-friendly this medium is.
As I mentioned, I enjoy listening to my favorite podcasts during my commute, through my smartphone. And, I’m not alone; 69% of podcast listeners are on their mobile devices.
As we increasingly choose mobile devices over other technologies, adopting mobile-friendly content types is important.
It’s easy for podcast listeners to consume this content while they are on the move, whether at the gym, in the car, relaxing at home, or elsewhere.
4. Growing in Popularity
The number of podcast listeners is growing.
There were 48 million weekly podcast listeners in 2018, according to Statista data. This audience is expected to grow to 115 million by 2021.
This is a big turning point for podcasts and an important time period for marketers looking to begin creating a podcast.
Now is the time to get started, since more businesses are going to begin creating this content and developing their audiences.
Getting into the podcast game now will allow you to beat the crowd and begin developing an audience before the heavier competition sets in.
5. Podcast Audiences Are Extremely Loyal
Developing a podcast audience ahead of the competition is incredibly important because listeners are loyal to their favorite programs.
They establish relationships with the host(s) and want to check back each time there is a new podcast episode.
If you can establish a strong audience before the podcast boom, it will be hard for your competitors to attract those listeners to their own shows.
This loyalty also translates to other marketing channels. For example, podcast listeners are 20% more likely to connect with a brand on social media.
When the podcast is over, audiences will turn to channels like social media to continue the conversations and interact with each other and your business.
6. Interactive Options for the Audience
One of the reasons that podcasts are so engaging and foster such loyal audiences is because they are very interactive.
Hosts can create audience polls, answer questions, and take “calls,” just like a traditional radio show. This helps pull listeners into the show and makes consuming the content feel more like an interactive experience, rather than simply listening to audio.
This interactivity helps solidify that connection with audiences. Very few content types offer this level of brand-customer interaction.
You can also interview other experts in your industry, which helps build your professional network and establishes credibility in your field.
7. Scalable Costs for the Creators
In terms of creation costs, podcasts are scalable. Like photo and video content, the cost to create is really dependent on quality.
Smartphones shoot exceptional videos and photos, but if you want to raise that content to the next level, then you need to invest in more expensive equipment.
The same is true for podcasts. You can capture good audio with relatively cheap equipment bought on Amazon. However, the quality may not be up to par with what audiences are used to from long-established podcasts.
As you develop your audience, you may decide to increase your podcast budget to include more expensive equipment. Luckily, this is totally controllable; you can scale costs to meet the demands of your audience.
8. Establishing Thought Leadership
Aside from offering customers value, one of the primary reasons that we develop content is to establish credibility and a reputation as a thought leader in the market.
This is why informative articles, case studies, guides and all manner of other well-research content assets are so valuable.
They help showcase to audiences that you provide helpful information and solutions to their questions and problems.
Podcasts are very impactful at growing this reputation as a credible, expert source because audiences get to hear it right from your own mouth.
If you’re passionate and invested in what you do, as most business owners and marketers are, then it should be no problem conveying these emotions across in a podcast.
Audiences will hear it in your voice!
9. Disposable Income Demographics
The average listener earns around $10,000 more than the average U.S. consumer, according to a 2016 report on podcast consumers. And, 15% of listeners earn over $150,000.
This leads me to believe podcast fans may be more likely to have disposable income, which they are willing to spend with their favorite brands and businesses. This makes them a high-value market segment.
These individuals are also more likely to be college-educated than the typical consumer, as well. Thus, they are more open to absorbing new information, learning about complex ideas and purchasing decisions.
10. Content Publishing Consistency
All of your blog posts and other content pieces should be scheduled, but audiences may not ever take notice, like they will with a podcast.
If your podcast airs on the same day each week (or same time each day), listeners will get used to the schedule. They’ll expect and anticipate the release of each podcast episode.
Not only does this help build buzz surrounding your show, but it also guarantees that your business’ name stays on the minds of audiences all week long. This does wonders for brand awareness,
Conclusions
Podcasts bring a lot of benefits to a business’ posting strategy.
Some of these benefits, however, are dwindling, as these online, radio-like shows become more popular. The competition for podcast audiences is heating up.
If you’ve ever thought about beginning to record a weekly, or even monthly, podcast for your customer to listen to, now is the time to start!
You’ll be able to establish that loyal audience, before your competitors enter the podcasting space.
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