Podcasts: how can you make the most of this marketing strategy in your business?

Considered the big trend of 2023, podcasts have revolutionized the digital world. Mass consumption of this new trend began in 2020, but did you know that podcasts have been around since 2004? It’s true!
But why did podcasts suddenly become so popular?

The concept of a podcast arose from an idea to create a digital radio program that could be downloaded so that it could be listened to anywhere and at any time.
And now you can probably answer the question above, right? As we already know, people’s consumption habits have been changing at an impressive rate. And with this change, podcasts have fit like a glove into our daily lives precisely because of their practicality.

We talk more and more about time and its ephemerality. We have never been more aware of the importance of how we choose to use our time. In this sense, we are increasingly a multifaceted generation.
There’s no better way to make the most of your time than by learning something you’ve always wanted to learn while you’re out for a walk. Or listening to a conversation between two people you follow on social media and in the kitchen. Podcasts have suddenly gone viral because of their versatility.

And you know what we do in marketing with things that have gone viral?! We embrace them in our strategies.

To help you integrate podcasts into your digital marketing strategy, we’ve put together a few steps to make it easy for you!

1. What is the purpose of the podcast?
This should be the first question you answer when creating your podcast. At this stage, define what you hope to achieve by creating the podcast, who the target audience is, what message you want to convey, what materials you will need to invest in and what budget you have for this strategy.
These are some of the questions that are extremely important for you to answer at an early stage of the project. So that you don’t waste time and/or resources.

2. In what format?
There are various formats you can adopt for your podcast, such as interviews, debates, stories, monologues… At this stage, and in order to answer this question, it is essential that you already know who your target audience is so that you can understand which format is most relevant to them.

3. Do you know what you’re going to say?
After the first two steps, and before you go any further, you need to define your script! If you let the content flow naturally, it’s possible that in the end you won’t have any relevant content or any content at all.
Find out which elements must be present in your script:
– The Phrase: this will probably be the element you use to advertise your podcast on your social networks, so it’s essential that it’s a phrase that immediately captures your audience’s attention.
– Presentation: no matter how many podcasts you’ve recorded, the presentation should always be part of your script! As time goes by, there will be more and more new people coming to your podcasts, so it’s important that they know who they’re listening to. This presentation doesn’t need to be long or detailed. Something simple will do.
– The topic: if the success of podcasts wasn’t something that came about as a way of making the most of our time, you should tell your listeners the topic of the podcast at the beginning of your podcast. Now, of course, you don’t want to lose listeners through lack of interest, so advertise the topic in the most interesting way you can.
– The subject: here it’s important that you deliver the interesting content you published in the previous phase. That’s why it’s so important to know your podcast’s target audience. Only then will you be able to produce interesting content for them.
– Invite dissemination: at some point in your conversation, it’s important that you invite your listener to share your podcast. One of the most used techniques for this type of campaign is to place this invitation in the middle of the conversation. In fact, if you can place it in the middle of the conversation without it being too distracting, all the better!
– Anticipate: this phase is very important! Again, regardless of how many podcasts you’ve recorded or are going to record or how many listeners you’ve had, it’s crucial that you always leave some anticipation of what’s to come in the next podcast. At an early stage, we don’t advise you to make too many scripts at once, because as you’re still starting out, you may have to make some adjustments. However, never go into a podcast that you intend to continue without knowing what the next topic is going to be.
– The farewell: To finish, say thank you, goodbye and wrap up.

4. The equipment
It won’t do you any good to have the best script in the world, with the best-defined target audience, if the equipment you’re using to record your podcast doesn’t keep up, so it’s crucial that you invest in a good microphone, headphones and good editing!

5. Editing
No matter how good your script is, don’t think you’ll be able to publish the podcast you’ve recorded without some editing. Either because you got distracted and wasted too much time on a topic, or because your cell phone rang in the middle of recording, or because the noise of the neighbors’ construction work is too loud, you’re guaranteed to need some editing. That’s why it’s important that you invest in someone who can do it for you.

6. Promote the podcast
Remember when I told you that the phrase you were going to use at the beginning of your podcast was important? At this stage, you need to promote your podcast on the most varied platforms and to do so, it’s important that the excerpt you use from the podcast attracts attention and arouses the curiosity of your potential listeners.

7. Be consistent
For everything in marketing, and in life, consistency is the key to success. With the number of podcasts out there, it’s important that you publish regularly.

8. Track the results
As we’ve said, especially at an early stage, you’ll probably need to make several adjustments until your podcast reaches its goals. To do this, it’s important that you keep track of the results you’re getting so that you can make changes.

Finally, we want to clarify something that you probably didn’t realize throughout the article. Every time we used the expression “suddenly” when talking about how quickly podcasts gained popularity, we used quotation marks. And yes, if you check, the quotation marks are really there. And no, it wasn’t an oversight. Want to know why?
As we mentioned, podcasts have been around since 2004, and only a few years ago did they start to gain popularity, and this shows us how sometimes our ideas can be a little ahead of our time. And that we have to be patient and persistent until they actually start to bear fruit.

This has nothing to do with the topic. We just wanted to end on a somewhat inspiring note. Maybe your business isn’t as successful as you’d like it to be. Maybe your idea hasn’t been bought by anyone yet. But… don’t give up. And if you need us, count on us!

Written by Inês Oliveira, digital marketer.