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.
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.
Podcasts are attractive to those who want the ability to control what content they consume (much like using the Internet).
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.
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.
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.