Crafting a Winning Podcast Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses

Podcasts have taken the digital content landscape by storm, offering an engaging and increasingly popular medium for businesses to connect with their audience. In this guide, we’ll explore the viability, considerations, and process of podcast marketing strategy for small businesses. From generating brand awareness to understanding why podcasting is considered a low-hanging fruit that you should be capitalizing on, we’ll delve into the various aspects that make podcasting an essential tool in your marketing arsenal.

Is Podcasting a Viable Content Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses?

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, small businesses are seeking innovative ways to connect with their audience, and podcasting has emerged as a potent contender—and podcasts have proven to be more than just a trend. And most importantly, the podcast market is still completely unsaturated. Podcast marketing strategy could be the next winning marketing strategy that satisfies your business objectives.

Consumers Love Podcasts

According to Edison Research, approximately eighty million Americans – 28% of the U.S. 12+ population – were weekly podcast listeners in 2021, a 17% increase over 2020. And to underline the surge in podcast popularity, Statista says that this number is estimated to rise even further, reaching over 100 million listeners in 2024. 

Podcast consumer behavior is even more promising. On average, podcast listeners tune into eight different shows per week and subscribe to an average of six shows according to Buzzsprout. Most interestingly, 80% of listeners listen to all or most of every podcast episode they start.

In addition, podcast listeners tend to be well-educated and affluent, with 44% having a college degree and 45% reporting an annual household income of $75,000 or more, making them an attractive demographic for businesses.

Generating Brand Awareness

Podcasts serve as a dynamic platform to build brand awareness.

Brand awareness refers to the familiarity of consumers with a particular product or service. Stated simply, consumers need to be aware that your brand exists in order to buy from you. Being highly visible to your target audience is critical to conversion. In fact, 77% of consumers prefer to shop with brands they follow on social media. 

A podcast marketing strategy is the perfect way to increases exposure by reaching new audiences that may not be aware of your brand’s existence. It’s a highly engaging medium that can build brand loyalty, and establish strong relationships with listeners before they ever reach out to your sales team.

Providing Value for Your Audience

Delivering value to your audience is key to not just podcast success, but is a core principle of effective content marketing. Businesses can use podcasts to offer insights, advice, and industry expertise, creating a valuable resource for their target audience.

Not only do podcasts educate and entertain their audiences, they are an excellent opportunity to engage in thought leadership and build authority in the industry or topic subject matter.

Building a Target Audience

Podcasts allow businesses to tailor content to specific niche audiences. Understanding your target demographic is crucial for creating content that resonates and builds a dedicated following.

Semrush defines a target audience as a group of people that products, services, or marketing efforts are aimed toward, typically defined by traits like age, gender, income, interests, challenges, and goals. Targeting the right audiences can help you reduce costs and increase conversions.

By developing a user persona and offering content on topics relevant to their interests (and optimizing that content so that it can be easily discovered), you’ll be able to reach and engage the right people for your brand and offerings with a cleverly-designed podcast marketing strategy. 

Creating Topical Authority

Becoming an authority in your industry is more complicated than it sounds. Yes, your team is made up of hardworking experts, but does that breadth and depth of expertise translate to your audience?

Positioning your brand as a credible authority in your industry is a matter of producing regular high-quality content and can be facilitated by a consistent podcasting marketing strategy. This also translates well to written media formats like interviews, case studies, blog articles, newsletters, and whitepapers.

Networking and Community Opportunities

Podcasting opens doors to networking and community building. Whether we like to network or not, the data is clear: according to Harvard Business Review, professional networks lead to more business opportunities, broader and deeper knowledge, improved capacity to innovate, faster advancement, and greater status and authority. Building and nurturing professional relationships also improves the quality of work and increases job satisfaction.

Improving partner relationships, networking with potential B2B customers, and building a community within your industry is a happy side effect of a well-produced podcast. Identify people you’d like to interview on your podcast and build trust and camaraderie with them during the process.

Why is Podcasting Considered a Low-Hanging Fruit?

With podcast popularity still rising steadily, the great news is that the podcast market is lower competition than many other media formats. While there are over 5 million podcasts available, only 44% of them have more than 3 episodes. 

Content Marketing is a Long Game

Content marketing is typically a long-term strategy, typically taking four to five months to produce results. But podcast marketing strategy can offer a more streamlined approach.

The nature of podcasts allows businesses to create consistent, high-quality content without exhaustive planning. While it may take time for a podcast venture to gain popularity and viewership, the content is available immediately for social sharing and promotional usage.

Ranking For Podcasts is Easier Than You Might Think

Podcasts face less competition than other content forms, making it easier to rank higher. Using SEO keyword research to create more easily discoverable episode titles will give you the upper hand.

With podcasting, consistency is key, so you can expect your production to rank better on podcasting platforms and online the more episodes you have and the more often you post.

Choose The Right Channels

Selecting the right channels is crucial for podcast success. Choosing a hosting platform is an important decision, but regardless the podcast should feed into popular listening platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Thinking about your audience and where they spend time will help you choose where and how to disseminate your podcasts.

Should You Create an Audio Only or Video Podcast?

When thinking of podcasts, most people are familiar with the audio clips they can pull up on Spotify or another listening platform. But video podcasts are gaining popularity as well.

Audio Podcasts Get More Attention

Audio podcasts dominate the market due to their convenience. With audio, consumers can engage with audio content while multitasking, making it a preferred choice for on-the-go consumption.

Not to mention that the attention span for audio podcasts is incredibly long, averaging more than 25 minutes of listening time per session.

On top of that, according to Ad Results Media, 68% of consumers are more willing to consider a product or service after hearing about it on a podcast. Podcast advertising can be more effective than radio and other formats.

Video Podcasts are Contradictory

Video podcasts, while offering a visual dimension, can be contradictory. Audio podcasts generally have a higher viewership and listening time than video, yes. But video is an extremely popular medium that attracts a completely different audience.

Consider your target audience when deciding which format to record in. Where do they spend most of their time and what platforms do they use most commonly? YouTube videos might be a better fit for your business than Apple Podcasts.

Video Content is Gold

Video content is invaluable for marketing purposes. Businesses catering to visual products, tutorials, or interviews may find video podcasts a powerful tool for audience engagement and brand visibility. 

Source: Grey Sky Films

The upside to recording a video podcast is that the audio version is still available, but so to is a content gold mine that can be shared in snippets across websites and social media.

The downside is that video is more expensive and time consuming to produce than audio only.

What Kinds of Content Can You Produce with a Podcast?

Any Topic Can Be a Podcast Niche

Podcasts are versatile and can cover virtually any topic. Finding a niche that aligns with your industry or interests can help carve out a unique space in the podcasting landscape.

Some of the most popular podcast niche categories are true crime, comedy, and news. But the options for specialty podcasts are limitless. Perhaps your business sells garden supplies; you might consider a gardening podcast. Or if you have a law firm, you might choose to analyze high-profile or absurd cases with a humorous spin.

It’s important to choose a niche that suits your business or products well.

Focus on the Industry, Not the Product

Rather than overtly promoting products, businesses should focus on industry-related topics. Providing valuable information and insights creates a connection with the audience, indirectly promoting the brand.

Once your audience trusts you as an authority in your niche, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.

Education, Entertainment, & Interviews

Podcasts can take various forms, from educational content and entertainment to insightful interviews. Businesses can experiment with different formats to discover what resonates best with their audience, or dig into user personas to discover what type of content their audience prefers.

How Can You Transform Podcast Content into Other Content Formats?

Use Podcasts as a Pillar of Content

Podcasts can serve as a pillar of content, with episodes forming the basis for other formats. Businesses can repurpose podcast content into blog posts, social media snippets, and more.

A podcast episode, either video or audio only, is considered a type of long-form content. This format is appropriate for certain platforms, like YouTube or Spotify, but not for others. Break the episode’s content down into bite-size pieces allows you to share content on other social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Repurposing Podcasts into Social Media Assets

Leveraging podcast snippets, quotes, or highlights for social media creates short-form content that encourages engagement.

• • Did a guest interviewee drop a concise and impactful quote? Write it out and include their headshot along with the podcasts logo, and post that graphic on Meta.
  • Did a funny moment happen? Turn it into a reel and share it on TikTok.
  • Or consider creating a trailer for the episode that you can post on your website and social to generate interest.

The options for short-form content marketing are endless.

Use Podcasts as Blog Content

Transcribing podcast episodes into blog posts enhances accessibility and search engine visibility, and this dual-purpose strategy caters to different audience preferences.

Consider writing a corresponding post to go along with each episode and share important insights and quotes. Not only does this build domain authority and brand awareness, but some audience members will engage better with written format than audio or video.

Have Guest Speakers Share Content

Inviting guest speakers not only diversifies podcast content but also allows businesses to leverage the guest’s audience. Encouraging guests to share the podcast episode expands overall reach.

Come up with a media kit to send to schedule guests so that they are empowered to use this content to their benefit as well, capitalizing on the synergistic nature of guest interviews.

How Do You Start a Podcast?

1.      Pick a Topic

Choosing a focused and relevant topic is the foundation of a successful podcast. Align the chosen topic with your brand’s expertise and the interests of your target audience.

2.      Design Branding and Set Up Accounts

Design a logo and branding for your podcast and set up all of your social media accounts. Don’t forget to sign up for an RSS service that automatically disseminates audio podcasts to the appropriate platforms. We like RSS.com for this service.

3.      Choose the Right Equipment

Investing in decent recording equipment ensures a professional-quality podcast. Spotify has an excellent article entitled “Podcast equipment guide for creators”.

4.      Schedule Guests

Guest appearances add diversity and expertise to your podcast. Develop strategies for planning and scheduling guest appearances to keep your content fresh and engaging. Reach out to potential interviewees and get them on the schedule.

5.      Perform a Test Run

Before launching, conduct a test run to identify and address any technical issues. Test with a few different people using different equipment so that you’ll know exactly how to problem solve on the big day.

6.      Record and Edit Your First Episode

Recording the first episode is an exciting step! Pay attention to quality, clarity, and engagement during the recording. Afterward, edit the episode to perfection using your preferred editing tools for a polished final product.

We’re a big fan of Riverside.FM for both recording and simple editing.

7.      Deploy the Finished Product to the Correct Channels

Distribute your podcast on popular platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts using your RSS feed. Additionally, share it across relevant social media channels and your website to maximize visibility. If you have video content, share it on YouTube and use it to create short-form content for your channels.

How Can Marketing Magic Maker Get Your Podcast Marketing Strategy Up and Running?

Marketing Magic Maker specializes in crafting winning podcast marketing strategies for small businesses. Our team of experts understands the nuances of podcasting and can guide you through every step of the process. Check out one of our podcast success stories in our case studies, Design Time: From the Floor Up.

Full Service

Our full-service approach covers everything from concept creation and content planning to recording, editing, and distribution. With Marketing Magic Maker by your side, you can focus on your business while we ensure your podcast reaches its full potential.

Let us handle everything and just show up on the day of the recording, or conscribe a host in your place. We can tailor a strategy that’s as hands-on or hands-off as you desire.

A La Carte Services

Alternatively, we offer a la carte services for businesses that may need specific assistance. Whether it’s optimizing your podcast for SEO, creating compelling show notes, or enhancing your podcast’s visual elements, Marketing Magic Maker has you covered.

Final Notes

In conclusion, podcasting stands as a powerful and accessible content marketing strategy for small businesses. From generating brand awareness to repurposing content into various formats, podcasts offer a unique opportunity for businesses to connect with their audience in a meaningful way. Whether you choose audio-only or video formats, the key lies in providing valuable content to your constituents. If you’re ready to embark on your podcast marketing strategy journey, Marketing Magic Maker is here to guide you, ensuring your podcast marketing dreams become a reality.