Do you put out podcasts in order to enhance your marketing efforts? A podcast refers to a digital audio file that is available for people to download, listen to or subscribe to. A podcast for many businesses and individuals is simply used as a sort of audio blog. Podcast marketing is used effectively by a variety of industries to share news, provide advice and offer entertainment. If you automate the process of marketing your podcasts, you will save time and money while creating efficiencies and reaching a wider audience.
Why should I do podcast marketing?
- Podcast marketing is yet another channel to use to engage your customers and spread your message. When you connect with customers in multiple ways, you create brand awareness and consistency while building loyalty and recognition. Businesses in today's world use email, social media, text message, video, voicemail, podcasts and more to reach out to customers and leads.
- Podcasts are simple to create. A staff member may simply talk, interview others, have a multi-person discussion or read a pre-made script. Once you have created and edited the audio file, you upload it to your website and social media pages and begin spreading it around to listeners.
- Podcasts have a human touch because they involve people speaking, so they create a more personal connection between your business and your customers.
What kinds of podcasts are good for my business?
- Customer interviews build loyalty and get your customer base involved. It is always more effective when your customers say positive things about your business than when you simply advertise your own benefits. Reach out to your customers, especially ones who have made big purchases or have had great customer experiences with your staff. Ask them if they would like to be featured in a customer interview. When you interview them for your podcast, ask specific questions about their customer experience, what they like about your company and your customer service staff.
- Provide tips or advice that are relevant to your industry. This type of podcast is often created by real estate agents to show how to choose the right home for your needs, fitness experts to show how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, financial experts to help manage yearly expenses and other such industry professionals to help advise their listeners. This helps build trust, engagement and loyalty.
- Entice customers with relevant information. This type of podcast is often used by businesses in the service industry to provide information to potential guests. Hotel staff talk about the local attractions in their area, restaurant owners promote upcoming food festivals in which they are involved, tour operators provide historical tidbits about the attractions their guests will see and so on. This builds interest and attracts new guests.
What makes podcasts effective for marketing?
- Podcasts are a unique form of marketing. Everyone has a blog, everyone sends emails, most people do PPC ads, but not everyone creates podcasts. They help set your business apart and create a more personal connection with your customers and leads.
- Podcasts are highly shareable. If you put them on your social media pages, they are likely to see more interaction than just simple text posts and tweets. Podcasts help spread your message to a wider audience.
- Listeners can conveniently take your message with them. Since almost everyone carries around a smartphone now, it it easy to listen to your podcast. Podcasts are also ideal for people on the go. They can hear your message anywhere without having to read or watch a video.
- Podcasts create a more intimate connection than videos or text content. Videos are usually engaging but fairly short, so you have to get your point across quickly. Text content gives you lots of room for your message, but it is not as immediately engaging. A podcast is a great mix because it can be lengthy and comprehensive but it does not take as much energy to listen to a podcast as to read an article. The human voice truly reaches out to people and makes your message come across loud and clear.
What is the best way to promote my podcasts?
- Provide an easy way for people to subscribe to your podcasts. The idea of podcast marketing is to create an ongoing weekly or monthly series that people engage with. Getting people to subscribe is the first step toward building a loyal and lasting customer relationship. With an automated signup form, all contact information entered is automatically fed into a personal profile for each contact. This allows you to learn who your customers and leads are, gather information and begin building relationships.
- Promote your podcasts on your social media pages! This is one of the best ways to spread them around. Set up an automated schedule so your podcasts automatically post to your social media pages every time a new one comes out. This way, you don't have to think about it. Your posts are automatically shared at the time you have scheduled. An automated marketing solution also collects information about the visitor interaction with each of your posts. After each podcast goes up on your social media pages, view your statistics to see which one got the most likes, comments and shares. This valuable data enables you to optimize future podcasts.
- In your marketing emails that you send out, include a link to your latest podcast and also social sharing buttons. This allows your subscribers to listen and easily share.
- Since podcasts are perfect for cell phone listening, promote each podcast with a text message to a list of subscribers. Text messages are usually opened within five minutes of the time they are received, making them a very immediate way of connecting with your audience.
Can I try automated podcast marketing for free?
Yes. We offer a 14 day free trial of our automated marketing platform. To see how automation boosts your efficiency, sign up here. Our platform includes over 15 marketing and customer communication tools, but you can use one or however many you choose. There is no risk, and our friendly team is always here to give you a demo so you can make the most of your marketing automation.
