Starting a podcast is something that continues to be popular with companies that have something to say. As an addition to live streaming, podcasts provide a type of long-form media that’s convenient to consume. While a video needs to be viewed, people can listen to a podcast when they are busy with other activities. This increases the ways that it can be consumed, e.g., listening during a walk, while driving to work, etc. Here are four benefits for businesses thinking about starting a podcast.
Reach a Separate Audience
The same people who join a live stream or watch a video aren’t always the same ones who listen to a podcast. While some podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience stream in both audio and video formats, many podcasts stick to the audio-only approach.
Far Smaller Downloads Allow for Regular Consumption
With audio, it is a much smaller download for listeners. Podcast apps auto-update with the latest episodes for subscribed podcasts. This can be prioritized to only download when the listener is connected to Wi-Fi, not cellular connections, to save on bandwidth too. This encourages more listeners to podcasts of all types.
Convenience
The convenience of podcasts being portable and light on storage means the audio-only format can reach a different audience to video content that chews through bandwidth. Pre-downloaded podcasts can be consumed anywhere at any time.
Less Involved to Get Started
Starting an audio-only podcast is far less expensive than recording videos for upload. Only a decent quality microphone, and possibly a small audio mixer, are needed on the hardware side. For the software, cloud-based podcast options make it simpler than ever before. Check out the following article from Melon to see how to get going with podcasting: https://melonapp.com/how-to-start-a-podcast/
Give the Brand a Voice
The danger with branding is that people aren’t always clear about the message that the brand wishes to convey. With customer services phone lines frequently being an automated telephone system to select your favorite option, people want connection and the ability to identify something real about a brand.
When podcasting, different people within the company can be interviewed or take turns hosting it. They can share their unique insights, provide tips for customers, or discuss what’s new with the company. When covering industry news, they’re able to put their unique perspective on it and personally connect with the audience.
All of the above gets the listener closer to the source and better able to appreciate what the company does on behalf of its customers.
Low-cost Marketing
For businesses, podcasting provides an additional channel to market effectively. Products can be promoted with links in the show notes to get more information. Traffic generation outside of organic search or paid advertising provides diversification away from the limited way that websites drive traffic to them.
While the marketing benefit is useful, so is the authority that’s derived from delivering a valuable podcast to listeners. People who listen and get useful nuggets from a business podcast are likelier to engage with the brand in other ways too. This eventually will often include becoming a customer or increasing their level of business because of their increased brand confidence.
Podcasts offer a different avenue to reach potential and current customers. It’s more convenient and less data-consuming than video and provides a long-form medium to convey business thinking to a wider audience.
