Let’s Talk; Growing Your Brand Through Podcasting.
How Using Podcasting Can Grow Your Brand
Grow a more personal connection with your audience.
You’re on a long road trip, from Pittsburgh to New York City. You’ve got your comfy pants on, some snacks for the road, a big gulp from the gas station in your cup holder, you’re all set to go. But what is going to keep you entertained for 6 hours? Everyone has their road trip jams playlist, but that gets old after about 45 minutes usually, listening to the same old songs you’ve heard a million times. For so many people the answer to boredom while driving, or any other number of situations when choosing what to listen to (e.g. running, on the bus, studying), is listening to podcasts. With interesting conversations ranging from all sorts of different topics, podcasts offer a variety filled and interactive form of entertainment to millions of people. Podcast hosts are able to relate to and interact with their audience, and their audience is able to hear an authentic version of someone they are interested in. Podcasting offers this unique opportunity to sell yourself as a brand to an audience that wants to hear from you.
There is an absolutely massive audience for podcasts as the popularity of podcasts continues to grow. 37% of people in the U.S. listens to a podcast at least every month (PodcastHosting.org). This includes just about every demographic as well as 48% of podcast listeners are men and 52% are women, and many different age groups tune in to podcasts. Podcasts are also very accessible, as just about anyone with an internet connection can get most of them for free across many different platforms. What is also more accessible is the information you’re giving an audience. Many people simply like listening to something rather than reading for it. People would rather be told facts or opinions than have to read and decipher and find information. This goes hand in hand with the fact that many audience members of a podcast are on the go, they can listen and be invested in your show while doing something else, like traveling across state, jogging, making dinner, etc. Podcasting is also a much quicker medium than writing down the same amount of information, a 30 minute podcast takes about 30 minutes to an hour to make, whereas writing that same amount of information may take hours or days even.
Now that we recognize people are listening, and in more ways than ever, what do we talk about? The beautiful part about the medium of podcasting is that this question has so many answers! Discuss hot pop culture topics, discuss sports stories, debate politics, give historical backgrounds of the valet industry, tell a story about how your dog peed on the carpet! All of the above can make for great podcast topics of discussion if you do them authentically and entertainingly. Whatever your area of expertise, understand what your audience wants to hear and how to relate to those listening. Many of the top podcasts in any genre, get there through transparency and genuineness. People like to listen to honest, simple, interesting conversations, no matter what the topic, the transparency of the conversation will draw a listener’s attention and interest into the topic. No matter what I listen to in a podcast, when the conversation is truthful and honest, the topic becomes more interesting, because it has that human element to it that everyone can relate to.
While podcasting can be a challenge for a host to find interesting topics and conversation pieces, one thing trumps all topics, when the people on the podcast are having fun! One of the most important things to remember is that podcasts are a form of entertainment, and your audience can tell, through your transparency, when you are enjoying what you’re doing, and in turn they will enjoy being a part of it! So remember that people out there want to hear your viewpoints and there is an audience of podcast listeners for any niche!
Sources:
https://kickofflabs.com/blog/use-podcasts-grow-interest-brand/
https://www.callforcontent.com/blog/podcast-statistics
https://www.eofire.com/powerful-podcast-statistics/
https://improvepodcast.com/top-podcasting-trends-market-ads-consumers-revenue/