How Small Businesses Can Benefit from Starting a Podcast

by Pat Safford | Sep 4, 2020 | Podcasting

It’s no question that podcasts have seen tremendous growth over the past few years. With 90 million monthly listeners—and the fact that podcasts are available virtually anywhere—there are tons of opportunities for businesses to reach new customers and grow their online presence with podcast content. But is it worth it? If you’re thinking about starting a podcast for your business, here are some of the ways that podcasts can work to your advantage!

Save Money on Marketing

Regardless of your marketing budget, podcasting can be a cost-effective way to market your business’ products or services. Podcasting isn’t like buying radio or TV air time, where you have to pay for ad placement. When you have your own podcast, you can promote your products or services for free. On top of that, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on the newest equipment to produce a podcast. When you’re first starting out, you can work with podcast equipment basics and use editing and hosting sites like Audacity and Buzzsprout to create what you need. (Over time as you build your brand, you may want to invest in a high-quality microphone, recording equipment, and maybe even a producer.)

Advertise to More Attentive Listeners

If you’re looking for a new way to advertise your own business or generate ad sales, podcasting is a perfect option. According to PodcastOne, 44% of listeners pay more attention to podcast ads than other media types. This is a great way for you to promote your business both on your own podcast and on other podcasts. Try to work with podcasts or businesses that have close ties to your industry. That way, ads don’t feel completely off base to listeners. Since podcast listeners are more attentive, it’s easy for them to feel put off by an advertisement that feels forced, so you want to make sure all ads seem authentic to your brand and your business.

Generate New Leads

With new podcasts showing up on streaming services every day, there’s an increased opportunity for new listeners to find you—and for you to gain new customers. Simply by releasing new episodes, providing content worth listening to, and utilizing ads effectively, podcasting can become a good source for lead generation. How exactly can someone listening to a podcast turn into a new customer? Well, you’ll want to give listeners a reason to visit your website with a lead magnet, such as a discounted product or service, free resource, or other incentives. From there, it’s about providing your business name and even a simple URL where listeners can go to learn more or make a purchase!

Build Topical Authority

Podcasting can help your business build authority within your industry the same way more traditional content marketing can. While written content is helpful for demonstrating your expertise on your business website or blog, a podcast gives you an actual voice that your customers can hear, which can create a more tangible sense of authority. Covering topics that you’re an expert in not only gives you a chance to showcase your knowledge on the subject, but it also gives you an opportunity to show how passionate you are about what you know.

Support Other Marketing Efforts

If you’re already utilizing content marketing, video marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing to get your business in front of customers, podcasts can be a great way to supplement those efforts. Use podcasts to expand on ideas you’ve covered in previous blog posts. Boost your YouTube subscribers and views by filming your podcast episodes. Change up the social media content you’re sharing each week by adding podcasts to your calendar. Your options for joint marketing efforts are endless!

Connect with Your Audience

One of the more impressive facts about podcast listeners today is that, more often than not, they’re coming back week after week to listen to the podcasts they like the most. In fact, 80% of podcast listeners will listen to all or most of a podcast episode before moving onto something else. If you’re a small business trying to attract new customers or build a larger audience, building a rapport with listeners could pay off big time. With podcasts, you have a chance to connect with an audience on a more personal level for a longer period of time. Since they’re tuned in for the entirety of your episodes—which could vary anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour—they’re spending more time with you each week than if they were to just read a webpage or two. This makes it easier to build a loyal following for your brand in a shorter period of time!

Grow Your Brand

If your goal is to reach as many customers online as possible, then a business podcast can be another valuable addition to your current brand marketing strategy. A small business podcast can be found in a variety of places online! It can be found on your website and on your social media channels, but it can also be found on apps and streaming services that are being used by millions of people each day! Some podcast directories to consider include:

Need help getting started with your business podcast? Hurrdat Media can help you with hosting, production, advertising, and more! Learn more about our podcast services today!