Are Podcasts A Good Advertising Investment?
In today’s world of the internet and social pages, there are many ways for you to advertise your business and obtain benefits of using social media and leads. Out of all these new forms, there may still be a medium that you may not have thought of yet, advertising on podcasts. The amount of untapped potential for podcast advertising is unmatched, and you may not be aware of it yourself unless you frequently listen to them on your own. But, advertising on this medium isn’t so simple. So before you make the decision to purchase your first ad spot on a podcast, you should be aware of the factors such as measuring the success of your ad, how to leverage these ads for maximum results, and how you can find the perfect podcast to advertise your business own. Before we dive into all that, let’s first jump into how podcast advertising works.
How It Works & Why It’s Growing
Most podcast listeners aren’t aware of the fact that most podcasts have agencies that help manage and produce them, which gives them the power to manage the advertisements and help advertisers find the right fit for them to run ads on. These agencies include Midroll, AdvertiseCast, iHeartMedia, and others.
Fortunately for you, advertising on podcasts is fairly simple and allows you to run ads with limited or even no cost of production. Ads for podcasts can come in two forms; providing the podcast hosts with major talking points while allowing them to advertise for your company by themselves, or pre-produced ads that can be inserted at the beginning, middle, or end of a podcast. If the podcast you are interested in working with is smaller and not managed by a major agency, you can search for the show’s contact info on their website or social pages, and negotiate with them directly, where a contract is eventually drawn up. You’ll soon realize that the prices of advertising on podcasts are quite desirable.
Advertising on podcasts has become immensely popular, but this is due to the fact that podcasts themselves are growing more and more popular. The number of active podcast listeners has more than doubled over the last decade, and thousands of new shows are introduced to podcast platforms every day, creating new audiences and new opportunities for advertising. The more podcasts that exist and thrive, the larger the number of advertisers there are that are leveraging this growing trend to promote their own products and services. Some studies even show that some listeners enjoy listening to their favorite podcasts ads! They could even help your company rank higher on Google.
Finding the Right Podcast For Your Business
If your business partakes in any form of marketing, you should have a clear idea and understanding of who exactly your audience is, what their interests are, and what factors drive them to buy products or services such as the ones you offer. But, you may not know exactly why your audience listens to or watches a particular podcast. Ensuring that your marketing efforts are aligned with your audience’s expectations is critical when creating a podcast ad that will meet their need.
When looking for that perfect podcast to help promote your business, there are many different factors that need to be considered. There are also multiple different questions that you should ask yourself when looking for the right podcast. These include:
- What is the demographic of the targeted podcast?
- Are there any podcasts that talk about my genre, field, or industry?
- What types of shows are my competitors advertising on?
- Is the podcast as successful as the hosts are saying?
- What is the standard advertising price for podcasts of this size?
Answering these questions will give you a solid groundwork for what podcasts you should be looking to advertise on.
Measuring the Success and Maximizing the Return
Now that you’ve invested time, money, and effort into advertising on a podcast, you’d likely want to know if what you did is worth it. You should want to track how many new purchases this created, or how many new visitors your website gained as a result of this investment. If you listen to the majority of ads on podcasts, you’ll find that many of them have custom URLs or offer codes that are presented during the ad.
Offer codes can be presented in the form of a word or phrase that the listeners of the show can enter when checking out on your site for a discount, or some type of other special offers. Using a code like this will enable you to be able to track the number of purchases that were made directly from the listeners. The key to a good code is to keep it short and memorable. Most podcasts use a code that is relevant to the podcast that it’s advertised on. A custom URL can be used in a similar fashion, where you present the listeners with a memorable version of your domain name that brings them to a custom landing page upon clicking on it. For example, sustainable fashion brand Rothy’s uses a custom URL for the fairly popular show Crime Junkie Podcast, providing their listeners with the URL “rothys.com/crimejunkie”.
By offering podcast listeners landing pages or codes that are custom to their favorite podcast, you make them feel like part of an exclusive group, and they may be more inclined to make a purchase, especially if the ad can come off as genuine and something that the show actually supports and promotes. You can effectively maximize your return on your advertising investment by keeping an eye on the data provided from these codes and URLs. By investing in many smaller podcasts, in the beginning, instead of one large podcast, you should be able to diversify the types of podcasts invest in, allowing you to find out what niche or type of show is the best fit for your business.
So, Is It Really Worth Getting In To?
In short, absolutely. Podcasts are a new way of entertainment and are extremely popular in our current market. Obviously, it’s not going to create overnight success for you and your business, but, when done correctly, can bring in countless amounts of new and loyal customers. The benefit that podcasts bring to the table is the sheer wide variety of content put out daily, so finding that one perfect and compatible show is more likely than not. Another major benefit that stems from podcasts is the dedicated audiences that come with them, and the unique opportunity to let the stars of the show personally read out the advertisements for you. Studies have shown that podcast listeners are more responsive to ads that are read out by the podcasts hosts rather than the typical pre-produced ones. If the hosts come off as authentic and supportive of your brand while doing an ad read, your chances of winning over their exclusive and dedicated fanbase skyrocket.
If podcasting isn’t an option for you, you can always learn how to write a book instead. Having your business advertised on podcasts, however, is an opportunity in marketing that has been overlooked since the dawn of the medium. Podcasting will continue to grow, and in response to this, the advertising industry that surrounds it will in turn grow too. Don’t let this opportunity of capturing a loyal and passionate audience slip from beneath you – the time to act is now!
