Podcasts: The Ultimate Tool for Increasing Your ROI

As I was mentioning in this previous post about this year’s Christmas marketing strategy, finding the winning formula for success in 2020 seems impossible. Right now, we’re facing more unpredictability, financial instability and negativism than ever – all of which can completely shatter strategies and even entire companies as this year comes to an end.

But there’s still hope. One of our key skills as marketers is to seek opportunity in every situation, dark as it may seem.

Right now, the world is thirsty for virtual, interesting content which makes us feel more connected. Although podcasts were once overlooked by many, this tool is proven to work extremely well in 2020.

How can you use it for a higher ROI? Read on to get all the essential info you need.

Podcasting, an unexplored niche

Lindsay Tjepkema is the CEO of Casted, a marketing platform specialized in podcasting. She’s a strong believer in the potential of entering this niche as a company, mainly because it’s considerably less explored than written content. More precisely, right now there are about 6 million blogs, but only 1 million podcasts.

This niche becomes even more valuable now, with consumers stuck at home looking for a simple way of staying connected. And what’s easier than listening to a podcast (as opposed to reading or watching content)?

Brands that have already joined the movement to advertise their services and products didn’t take long to notice a positive impact in their sales numbers. According to podcast analytics provider Charitable, their system tracked 825 million downloads in June – an impressive increase compared to the 600 million downloads recorded in March.

This shouldn’t mean that our only focus should be advertising. As we already know, simply placing ads won’t increase your ROI much.

Delivering valuable content while placing ads strategically does.

Getting started

Whether we talk about social, educational or entertainment podcasts, most of them go unscripted or go off-script occasionally. However, if you’re just starting in this field, it may be best to create a script and follow through with it.

Sky Cassidy, who co-hosts the podcast If You Market They Will Come, explains that podcasts are no longer something you just do for fun – at least not when it’s part of a company’s marketing strategy. As with any other type of content, the first step is to set a realistic ROI, as well as decent deadlines for your project and the tracking process.

Audio technology solutions provider Voxnest found that podcast consumption increased by 42% globally during March and April, when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared.

So how can you start with the right foot in this niche?

Tjepkema says it all depends on the type of content you’re offering. Short podcasts published frequently are generally working best, since they can be easily listened while in the car or on a break.

However, some companies have also enjoyed success by posting rich, in-depth content less frequently. If you’re offering truly valuable content, your audience will be loyal enough to take one hour of their precious time to listen to what you have to say.

But what is the right thing to say?

Content is always the key

I can begin by telling you what definitely does not work in podcasting: sales pitches.

Sure, the reason behind everything we do as marketers is to increase your sales numbers. But we can only achieve this goal if we focus on delivering valuable content to our audience. Regardless of your domain of activity, there are always people looking forward to educate themselves in that field.

Once you’ve made the outlines for your script, you should take care of the quality of your podcast. If you think about it, podcasting is basically talking about a subject – but there’s so much more to it.

Having a high audio quality is essential for delivering good content. This means your voice, tone and technology used should all have a high quality. Tjepkema also advises clients to include as many statistics and data as possible, as this information makes you appear more trustworthy.

Podcasting is definitely a niche worth exploring with a major potential. Instead of demoralization, let’s inspire each other to thrive by delivering the kind of content our world needs right now to feel better. With that, sales numbers will come too!