The Best Uses of Podcasting

The 3 Ways to Optimize Growth from Podcasting

Podcast advertisers spent almost $500 million to reach podcast listeners in 2018. We’re talking about a huge market with 42 million Americans listening to podcasts every week. If you haven’t yet included, or started planning to include podcasting in your content strategy, now is a better time than ever to do so.

Business owners, brand managers, influencers, and bloggers can profit by incorporating podcasting into their content marketing strategies. But the leaders of the pack do not merely incorporate podcasting – they fully integrate this exciting medium into their marketing strategies.

In this article, we’ll look at three strategic marketing practices to bring the most out of your podcast. If you’re not sure how to use podcasting, don’t worry, we’re going to help you get started.

1. Adding Podcasting to Your Marketing Funnel

Before jumping into the deep end of podcasting, it’s important to nail the strategic intent behind your podcast by calibrating it in your marketing funnel. Knowing these crucial factors will help you focus on what’s important, and connect with your listeners where they’re at.

A marketing funnel is essentially the journey of a customer from their first contact with your brand or product to their final stages of conversion that includes purchase and advocacy. You’ve probably heard someone talk about “conversion rate optimization” – this refers to moving people through the marketing funnel.

It helps to think of the different stages of the funnel as the different states of mind that your customer can have throughout the client journey. In this way you’ll be able to put yourself in your customers’ shoes, imagine what is important to them, and address those points.

USING YOUR PODCAST TO DISCOVER, DIGEST AND DO

The marketing funnel can be split up into any number of phases, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s stick to the three main ones, namely:

Podcasting can play an important role in each of these stages and lead to big payoffs for your business. Let’s look at each one.

Discover

This stage is all about discovery and awareness. Content at this level aims to get as many listeners as possible. People can hear about your podcast from their colleagues, read about it on social media, or find you through Google – to name only a few. It is also at this stage that people will decide whether to subscribe to your podcast or not. It’s therefore important to cast a wide net, but not too wide.

One of the most important things to consider during the “Discover” stage is to build your brand. Single Grain, a digital marketing agency notes that “branding is crucial for your company because it is the visual identity of your business and, if done properly, gives your business not just a name, but a voice and encourages consumer awareness about your business.”

What exactly does that imply for brand building in podcasting?

Mostly importantly, it means you need to decide upon your brand’s voice and values, and make sure it is reflected in every piece of content you produce. Your consistency in podcasting will create a familiarity with your audience, and help you become a household name.

As you can guess, doing so will take a lot of time and work, and there’s an overwhelming number of variables to consider. Your content will also have to be consistently good. Luckily, you don’t have to do it all alone. We’ll work closely with you to refine your content making sure you reach the right audience, deliver the unique value that your audience appreciates, and speak in a voice that they will come to love.

Digest

The main goal of the “Digest” phase is to get your listeners to consider your podcast. At this level authority marketing, thought leadership, and exceptional quality content will set you up for serious pondering in the minds of your listeners. According to Edison research 13% of listeners spend between 5 and 10 hours a week listening to podcasts – these listeners have gone beyond discovering. They are digesting.

Authority marketing plays a fundamental role in the “Digest” stage. Authority is your core asset as a consultant, making it easier for you to reach and influence prospects and customers. It enables you to earn respect and trust. According to Wikiwand, every minute that a customer or prospect listens to a podcaster speak with authority, the podcaster is establishing themselves as a thought-leader.

When it comes to authority marketing, good content changes everything. And, the greater your authority, the quicker your results. Our goal for the clients we help is to grow their authority and businesses.

To get started on your road to authority, schedule an office hours call with Michael where we’ll develop your authority roadmap. Or download and read our Authority Marketing Playbook, a comprehensive guide to authority marketing.

Do

The final stage of the marketing funnel prompts the customer to take action. It could be that the only thing you require of your audience to do is to listen to your podcast. It could also be that you require your audience to support your affiliate marketing program, write a review of your podcast, join your newsletter, or get in touch with you. Whatever the action is, the “Do” stage is where it will happen.

The final stage of the marketing funnel prompts the customer to take action. It could be that the only thing you require of your audience to do is to listen to your podcast. It could also be that you require your audience to support your affiliate marketing program, write a review of your podcast, join your newsletter, or get in touch with you. Whatever the action is, the “Do” stage is where it will happen.

Remember: it’s all About Connection

No matter where in the marketing funnel you’re going to let your podcast work for you, connection should remain integral to your strategy. Shelley Frost from Chron.com says hearing the voice of the podcast presenter “gives the audience a stronger connection than reading the information on a web page”. That’s certainly true. When it comes to creating connection, podcasting has a head start over other media channels.

Connecting with your audience can play an equally important role in the “Discover” and “Digest” stages of the marketing funnel. When you broadcast regularly, your listeners will become familiar with your voice, and brand. In this way, your brand also remains top of mind with your subscribers and they keep coming back to you. And if you get your audience to “Do”, you’re most definitely on to something great.

2. Harness Your Social Capital for Audience and Business Growth

Once you have allocated a solid position in your content strategy for your podcast, you can further solidify your plan by using your social capital to increase your reach. In doing so, you will build partnerships and connect with influencers who will be able to help you get your podcast off the ground.

TUNE IN AND CONNECT

Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Airbnb have enabled tons of new social networks to form. You can use podcasting in a similar way to build networks around shared values and common purposes. Social capital networking can be used to push your podcast forward at the Discover, Digest and Do stages of the marketing funnel. Think of it as a bonus tool that you can use at every level of your journey.

In terms of choosing guests, your goals will frame who you seek out as prospects. If you’re creating an Authority Builder show, your guests should improve your authority and/or be a potential customer lead. For example, Michael Greenberg, founder of Call for Content, utilized his podcast, Talk with the Top St. Louis, to achieve his professional goals.

In moving back to St. Louis, Michael wanted to meet entrepreneurs in the city, so that’s what he made Talk with the Top about. He used the podcast as a forum to interview entrepreneurs and executives at larger companies. He got to meet with them, grow his relationships with them, and learn from them. He used the show primarily to grow his network, but at the same time, used it to generate leads.

INFLUENCERS AND PARTNERSHIPS

We’ve been doing this a long time, and have learned that they give you the best bang for the buck. Get started by following these simple steps:

To determine the best options for partnership, explore your audience’s media landscape and build a list of dozens of groups, organizations, and media outlets that will give you access to their ideal customers.

To determine the best options for partnership, explore your audience’s media landscape and build a list of dozens of groups, organizations, and media outlets that will give you access to their ideal customers.

3. Trick of the Trade: Repurposing Existing Content

Podcasts are an excellent resource for your content marketing efforts because you can use them in other channels. Your archives will become a wealth of quotes, facts, and information that you’ll be able to turn into evergreen content.

Infographics are a simple example of content that you can create using your podcast transcripts. Whenever you or a guest are discussing numbers or percentages, you can turn that information into an infographic to post on social media, your website, brochures, handouts, or other collateral.

Social media is another great outlet for repurposing your podcast content. Simply highlight or note the best sound bites from your podcasts and post or tweet them out to your audience. A double bonus of doing this is that it automatically promotes your podcast to your followers.

When repurposing you’ll want to keep in mind the needs of your audience. Think about what will be easiest for them to take in, not what’s easiest for you to make.

Conclusion

Adding podcasting to your content marketing strategy can literally make all the difference. Creating good content, for and with the right people, with the right goal for your in mind, and in an efficient way isn’t impossible. It just requires your expert brain and an authority-focused content marketing partner.

If you’re struggling to figure out where to start, Call for Content can help. We offer customer research and authority content strategy services from $1 500 / month. Let us guide you in setting clear goals and assist with optimizing your marketing funnel.

Each of our playbooks gives you step by step instruction on how to execute a successful content marketing strategy using podcasts. Access them for free and start planning your podcast today.