Podcast Marketing – What is it and how does it work?
Marketing
Posted 17 May 2022
What do Joe Rogan and Michelle Obama have in common? Both of them run extremely successful and highly promotional podcasts. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept of podcasts (yet), these are contributions in audial and sometimes audiovisual form that can be obtained via platforms such as Spotify, iTunes or Deezer, and are easily produced with little prior technical knowledge. The word “podcast” itself is a combination of the words pod (play on demand) and cast, the abbreviation of the term broadcast.
Whether for the purpose of entertainment, information gathering, or relaxation; whether old or young; whether male, female, or diverse; whether night owl or early bird: over the past years, the medium podcast has written a success story in the USA as well as in Germany and the rest of the world – and this trend is set to continue.
Podcasting got its start in the U.S. in the early 2000s with well-known personalities like MTV host Adam Curry and his podcast “Daily Sorce Code” (August 2004), or software developer Dave Winer with “Morning Coffee Notes”. By 2005, the medium had already gained strong foothold in Germany thanks to shows like “Küchenradio” with Philip Banse (now better known as moderator of the successful political podcast “Lage der Nation”) or “Schlaflos in München” with Larissa Vassilian aka Annik Rubens. The podcast’s cliché being a “lab cast” and “medium by nerds for nerds” also dates back to this time.
Those days are long gone though. Although practically anyone can start a podcast at home in their living room today – a still continuing trend that especially applies in the area of true crime – the industry has become more professional over the years and now generates millions in sales. Marketers meanwhile have discovered the broad field the podcast industry offers and are successfully placing products across the board.
There are considerable differences between the well-known audio ads and the so-called native ads, which are not yet as widespread but are increasingly gaining ground. Audio ads are the kind of advertising we have always heard on the radio: rather professionally recorded and accompanied by easy-to-memorize jingles. Native ads, on the other hand, are advertisements created by the podcasters themselves and often individually recorded for each podcast episode. If one consults Germany’s largest podcast marketer, the Seven.One AdFactory, both the advertising brand and the podcast’s people in charge have a say in the ad design. Particularly authentic and thus credible ad placements are created this way. Through a study published at the end of 2021, Seven.One AdFactory was able to prove that an increased interaction with podcast listeners and additional reach could be gained through calls to action.
Entering the world of podcasts may be uncharted territory and associated with uncertainty for many people. Yet podcasts offer many advantages that other marketing channels cannot deliver. While advertising on other platforms is ignored, skipped or opted out of as quickly as possible, advertising in podcasts enjoys high acceptance. This is especially true for native ads as we have already seen. According to the Seven.One AdFactory study, 66 per cent of listeners do not find podcast advertising annoying, quite the contrary even: over 40 per cent find podcast advertising trustworthy and 32 per cent are interested in brands and products.
Besides several additional advertising possibilities, advantages can also be found in the creative scope. The listeners of podcasts are considered to be particularly engaged in the topics and follow the podcasts attentively. Through podcast marketing creative storytelling and customer loyalty measures can be effectively implemented without coming to nothing in the end.
The third and likely most important advantage of podcast marketing is the target group that can be specifically approached.
A gender-neutral, educated, high-income and at the same time predominantly young target group can hardly be reached in any other way. Even in social media, such a target group is hard to find. And if you do, then only with a low attention span.
Podcasts are not a new invention of the last three years, yet they are increasingly popular and are seeing one peak of use after another.
Entering the podcast world is characterized by many advantages in terms of user behaviour and monetization. Therefore, podcast marketing is suitable for both creative and strategic paid media activities.
On their way to opening new marketing channels, many companies struggle with the production and conceptualization of a successful podcast. Competent partners such as the communication agency HBI Helga Bailey GmbH can provide support and help your podcast launch to success.
Account Executive at HBI Helga Bailey GmbH – International PR &MarCom
Marion Wierl has been supporting HBI in the areas of climate monitoring and sustainability since September 2021. She supports the planning and implementation of press events, regular as well as ad-hoc press releases and journalist inquiries from all over the world.
Source for header picture: <a href=’https://de.freepik.com/fotos/musik’>Musik Foto erstellt von xb100 – de.freepik.com</a>
