Mat Zucker is co-lead of the worldwide advertising and marketing apply at Prophet, and has helped manufacturers together with Johnson & Johnson and CIT Group launch their first podcasts. He additionally produces two award-winning exhibits: Cidiot, about transferring from town to the nation; and Rising, conversations with advertising and marketing leaders on the way in which up, with Direct Brokers.
Two million podcasts. 48 million episodes. The podcast shelf is that crowded, in response to October 2021 knowledge.
For those who’re investing in podcasting as a part of your advertising and marketing combine, how are you going to guarantee yours will break by? Let’s dive in.
Defining podcast success
“Breaking by” can imply various things relying in your goals. For those who’re trying to make use of your podcast to develop your buyer base, then attain and metrics equivalent to downloads are paramount. If, nevertheless, you’re looking for to shift model notion, you may search for enhancements measured by engagement and follow-up analysis.
Benchmarks for profitable podcasts are decrease than you may assume. In response to Libsyn’s stats, simply 123 downloads places your present is within the high 50 p.c of podcasts. Attain 2,900 downloads, and also you’re within the high 10 p.c.
In response to Brian Swarth, head of promoting for podcasts at Cadence13, Pineapple Avenue Studios, and 2400Sports—three podcast studios owned by audio powerhouse Audacy—listenership is the first purpose. Along with downloads, success on Apple charts is a helpful metric internally and with enterprise companions. Swarth famous that whereas the chart algorithm remains to be fairly opaque, he believes one key to climbing up the charts is velocity: the speed at which individuals observe and hearken to your present, not simply the amount.
He additionally seems to be to see if the podcast is a part of a broader dialog.
Simply 123 downloads places your present is within the high 50 p.c of podcasts. Attain 2,900 downloads, and also you’re within the high 10 p.c.
“Is it related to the tradition or propelling tradition to progress?” Swarth mentioned. “Our 70 over 70 podcast is a breakthrough not solely as a result of it was profitable from a listenership perspective, but additionally as a result of everybody I do know is speaking about it and media shops have been eagerly overlaying it.”
Tales in podcast experimentation
Jered Martin, co-founder and chief operations officer of OnePitch, a public relations SaaS platform, launched his present Espresso With A Journalist in March 2019.
Since then, it has grown from 5,000 downloads to greater than 40,000 over greater than two years. Aimed toward PR, advertising and marketing, and communications professionals, Martin promoted the podcast the place they have been most energetic. “A variety of our company are on Twitter, and the individuals who work with journalists are on Twitter,” Martin mentioned.
Along with downloads, success on Apple charts is a helpful metric internally and with enterprise companions
“First we ran advert campaigns, which didn’t carry out nicely. With a restricted price range, our attain was stifled. We bought visitors, however it wasn’t changing,” he defined. Recognizing that individuals have been looking for the company, he shifted efforts to natural means—together with search engine optimisation—which labored. Tagging company who’ve giant followings amplified attain, as did posting in industry-specific LinkedIn teams.
By yr two, OnePitch added a publication to advertise new episodes and tease upcoming company, all of which contributed to an uptick. Offering a sophisticated view “made it simple for folks to say sure or no to listening,” mentioned Martin.
Andrea Kilin, international social media supervisor and govt producer of Discovery Issues, a podcast by life sciences chief Cytiva, additionally discovered standard ways equivalent to paid social didn’t work at first. She and her workforce rethought the right way to sort out word-of-mouth. The workforce tapped into Cytiva’s robust firm tradition and requested its 1000’s of associates to share new episodes and assist supply company, which offered constructive momentum.
“The podcast is an expression of our curiosity,” mentioned Kilin. “It exhibits why we do our job.” As an alternative of barraging workers with extra emails, the podcast has a devoted and energetic inner Microsoft Groups channel.
For Stacey Simms of the Diabetes Connections podcast, success will not be measured by numbers, however fairly by the influence she makes on these with Sort 1 diabetes. To market the present, Simms targeted on occasions in addition to social media teams, threads, and hashtags.
She recommends avoiding spamming these teams with episodes. As an alternative, authentically interact, perceive the principles of every group, reply questions ,after which when related, share that you just’ve executed an episode on that subject. “As your present will get extra established,” Simms mentioned, “different folks will even level out your present.”
5 podcast progress methods for you
Listed below are 5 archetypal methods, with instance ways. Every features a doubtless final result and degree of funding ($=low, $$$=excessive).
Technique one: The concept markets itself
Discover an viewers’s content material want hole and the advertising and marketing will care for itself. What do listeners wish to find out about? You would guess, or as podcast host and educator Will Francis suggests, use viewers analysis instruments equivalent to Reply the Public, Buzzsumo, Google Traits, or Reddit.
One key early advertising and marketing determination is the present’s title, recognizing the problem of displaying up in search outcomes and directories. An uncommon title, equivalent to my podcast Cidiot, is less complicated to search out than my different podcast about advertising and marketing careers I co-host with Josh Boaz, known as Rising.
Different strikes is perhaps repackaging content material as quotes and infographics, making a trailer, and constructing an e mail checklist for natural pushes.
End result: Extremely engaged, helpful viewers; might develop slowly ($)
Technique two: throw cash at it
Media spend with paid podcast adverts might be the quickest however most costly method. Swarth sees this working in tandem with different approaches. With larger consciousness, he usually sees larger conversion of paid adverts. Many channels run paid promoting. Examples from an American Advertising and marketing Affiliation coaching session I just lately attended have been:
- Overcast: Textual content adverts
- Spotify audio adverts: 30-second trailer
- Instagram: Teaser video on your subsequent episode
- Reddit: Sponsored submit in a related area of interest sub-reddit
- Twitter: Sponsored tweet focused at followers of an identical, established present
- LinkedIn adverts: Sharing what folks will study
End result: Giant viewers constructed shortly, would require sustained efforts ($$$)
Technique three: be the place the ears are
Increasingly more exhibits and platforms are providing up choices for different exhibits to accomplice with them. Teams like r/PodcastGuestExchange on Reddit will help you join with different podcasts for appearances, and most podcast networks provide promotion ways. PocketCast paid placements, for instance, provide options that run for every week and expenses $2,000.
End result: Medium-size viewers, doubtless extremely engaged, decrease conversion ($$$)
Technique 4: be the place the subject is
This technique markets to the fervour. In case your present is about tech, then reply a query on Quora. If it’s music, then create content material for TikTok or sponsored content material in a music publication. There’s additionally progress of podcast promotion or distribution through YouTube.
For her insulin-related podcast, Simms is selling an episode about dealing with Halloween sweet in a mother and father discussion board.
End result: Bigger viewers with larger engagement ($)
Technique 5: third-party energy
Oblique works. Accolades are a tactic with third-party endorsement. Cidiot numbers ticked up after profitable greatest regional podcast in an area publication and every time I’m quoted in media as an “professional” of transferring to the nation.
Along with getting workers behind the podcast, Cytiva’s Kilin plans to generate phrase of mouth by giveaways with listeners.
End result: Top quality viewers, doubtless sluggish to construct ($$)
Discovering your system
The reply for advertising and marketing most new podcasts can be a customized recipe made up of a number of of the above methods. There are various advantages within the quite a few low-cost ways, in addition to among the larger value investments, however it’s the nuanced orchestration of the best ones over time that can assist your present break by.
