Why Businesses Should Seriously Consider Launching a Branded Podcast in 2016

At this point every year, businesses will have either already made or are in the process of finalising marketing campaigns for the forthcoming 12 months.  This often requires businesses to think ahead and predict what channels or campaign-types will have the greatest impact for their brands.  As an agency, being able to predict digital marketing trends before they happen or become mainstream is part of our duty to our clients and is an ongoing process rather than an annual exercise.  Recently though, there's been one area of digital marketing that we've been talking to our clients about and one we believe that every brand should be embracing and that's Podcasting.  

What is a Podcast / Podcasting?

Podcasts are digital audio files, which are produced in a series.  Podcasts can be produced as frequently or as infrequently as the producers would like, although regularity in production frequency will help drive a loyal following of listeners.  Listeners can listen to podcasts or subscribe to a series through most devices including laptops, tablets and mobiles using either pre-installed software such as the iOS Podcasts application or similar.

Why do people listen to Podcasts?

Podcasts are attractive to those who want the ability to control what content they consume (much like using the Internet). Instead of traditional media broadcasting models such as TV and radio, where listeners/viewers tune in and select from one of the programs playing, podcasts allow the consumer to be firmly in control.  Over the last few years, this trend of consumers controlling the content they watch, listen to and share has threatened traditional business models with companies such as YouTube and Netflix being disruptive influences in this area.  

Many people are increasingly preferring the convenience of having fresh content loaded on their devices, and the ability to listen to their podcasts throughout the day.  This advert-free environment also provides a welcome break from traditional radio broadcasting where up to 15 minutes of commercials are played each hour.

As program availability increases, consumers are also able to search for and tune into the shows that are most relevant to their interests, which again is a major differentiator to current alternatives.  

When do people listen to Podcasts?

Anytime!  With mobile devices and smart phones becoming more prominent in our everyday lives, more and more people listen to podcasts at different stages of the day.  From working out in the gym in the morning, to the office where the sight of professionals wearing earphones while working away on their laptops is becoming a more recognised phenomena or in the car during the daily commute (connecting devices to car stereos is easier than ever), there are multiple ways for people to tune into a podcast today.

As technology evolves further, there is no doubt that Podcasts will become more and more popular and this presents a huge opportunities for companies to reach new audiences by sharing relevant and interesting content to an audience that chooses to listen to that content rather than be forced to watch or listen to a TV or Radio advert that interrupts the program that they've actually tuned in for.

Why should businesses consider creating their own Podcast series?

With all things related to digital marketing, there is first mover advantage available for brands that embrace this early.  The opportunity to "own a space" is significant with Podcasting as very few brands have recognised the opportunity that's currently available to them.  Our good friend Marcus Sheridan sums this up brilliantly in the video below:

Heard enough and are ready to take the next step?  At Nexa, we not only host 2 (soon to be 3) podcasts of our own (including the first Arabic language Digital Marketing Podcast) but we're also helping a host of clients across multiple industries plan, create, edit and publish their own podcasts.  If you'd like to consider this for your business, please contact us by completing the form on this page.