Just a few years ago, you wouldn’t believe that podcasts would have taken over the media world. But research by GWI has found that podcasts are amongst the most popular audio content, trailing behind just playlists and the charts. With podcasts covering just about every topic you could think of, you might be wanting a slice of the pie for yourself.
Podcasting for business is also incredibly popular, with research from Signal Hill Insights finding that senior executives are heavy podcast listeners, with the majority tuning in for more than five hours per week. Based on 24,505 respondents, 35% cited “self improvement” and “to be inspired” as reasons to listen to podcasts.
With such a large listenership tuning in for long periods of time, podcasting for business has never been more appealing. Here, we’ll go through all the reasons behind why you should be getting in front of the microphone.
Benefits of Podcasting for Business
There are many benefits of podcasting for business, from building brand awareness to improving your authority. You can build genuine connections with your listeners, creating a sense of community within a specific audience who will engage with other marketing activities. Or, you could use podcasting as a lead generation exercise, converting those listeners into buyers.
Regardless, the benefits of podcasting can far outweigh the costs required to produce a B2B podcast episode or series.
1. Credibility, trust, and authority
Launching a business-related podcast allows you to share your personal expertise and opinions on your specific industry niche. By simply sharing what you’ve experienced and seen within the industry, or even predicting what the future may hold, you can position yourself as a leader within your industry.
Rather than using the podcast as a sales pitch, you should instead use it as a way to speak directly to your peers. Research from Podchaser found that podcasts within the business category are the most popular genre amongst senior executives, with 26.6% of listeners tuning in. Technology follows this, with 13.7% of listeners, while news (12.3%) rounds up the top three.
With this data, you can tailor the topics you discuss to your audience. Speak to their specific pain points and needs, discuss your own struggles with any areas of the business, and offer practical advice that they can use in their own day-to-day business activities. Showing empathy can help to develop a real connection, encouraging listeners to continue listening to future podcasts, positioning your voice as one worth hearing.
Having this credibility attached to your name therefore increases your own brand authority. This establishes you as a trusted source for information and improves your visibility within the business space. Customers are more likely to trust and buy from credible sources, improving the success of your business.
2. Network with industry leaders
Podcasting doesn’t need to be a solo affair. In fact, it’s encouraged to invite guest speakers for special episodes, allowing you to share a dialogue with your peers and listeners. The previously mentioned research from Podchaser found that almost 80% of podcasts popular with senior executives and c-suite professionals frequently feature guests.
Take advantage of the many voices out there, and invite someone to speak with you. They could be fellow business owners, executives, or even industry analysts and leaders. Ensure you have a topic in mind — and have prepared for it before recording — so your conversation flows and you mention all the specific points you want to discuss.
Inviting guests to speak with you — or even speaking as a guest on another podcast — also allows you to reach their own network of professionals. Their own audience is likely to tune in to hear what they have to say, giving you more opportunity to position yourself as an authority figure within the space. And, if you’re lucky, those new listeners may well subscribe and become devoted listeners.
3. Dedicated and engaged community
As well as building brand authority, podcasting for business also allows you to build out your own community. By speaking directly to your audience, you can encourage engagement on other platforms, such as social media. Repurpose your podcast into short-form video content to post on LinkedIn or other platforms, and encourage a discussion within the comments. Respond directly to comments, asking thought-provoking questions and hearing other people’s opinions on takes on the industry news.
This community creation should be a core part of your podcasting strategy. Establishing a core group of listeners means that you’re (almost) guaranteed listeners for each podcast, which improves your engagement metrics. Having a dedicated community also improves the engagement of any other marketing activity that they might be privy to, such as social media posts, which can increase your reach organically to other, similar communities and audiences.
A dedicated community also means additional, free, marketing — users who frequently engage with your brand are more likely to spread the word about your brand and business through word-of-mouth, essentially becoming your brand ambassadors. You’re also able to leverage an engaged community for deeper industry insights by sending out surveys and asking for feedback, allowing you to adjust business effort to address gaps in the market. This kind of engagement is invaluable, but is only built organically by building a real relationship between you and your audience.
4. Lead and demand generation
As we’ve discussed, one of the biggest benefits to podcasting for business is to get your voice heard by a large audience. All the benefits discussed above should, naturally, generate leads for your business. Of course, you’ll be creating a high-quality podcast that resonates with your audience and gets them thinking and engaging with your brand.
By focusing on creating excellent content that people want to listen to, and fostering an engaged community, you’ll be able to increase your brand awareness to an audience that spans further than your target audience.
There are many ways to generate leads from a podcast, but the most important aspect to remember is to create high-quality content that’s useful and valuable to your audience.
Are Podcasts Good for Business?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes, because of all the reasons we’ve discussed above. Creating a new podcast series gives you the freedom to discuss any topic you want to — but it does require hard work and a careful strategy in order to develop a listenership.
At EM360Tech, we have a number of established podcast series, covering a range of topics from cybersecurity, data management, and the future of tech, and hosted by a range of industry analysts. For any guest appearing on our B2B podcasts, we match them up with an analyst that best aligns with their brand and mission, allowing us to produce the highest quality podcast.
Is Podcasting Still Profitable?
If you’re able to generate good quality leads, podcasting has the potential to give you a very high return on investment. We’ve found that our podcast content is able to generate 527% ROI in comparison with traditional digital marketing efforts.
Can a Podcast Grow Your Business?
Yes! Podcasting is a great way to improve your brand awareness and increase your audience reach. If you create high quality content that people engage with and share, you can grow your business organically.
Engagement is key, here. You want to encourage shares, comments, and likes, so your content appears on the social feeds of other people outside of your immediate network and community. This boosts awareness and can lead to new followers and visitors to your website.
Should I Start a Podcast For My Business?
If you’re just starting out, the best thing would be to reach out to established podcasts within your niche to start getting your voice out there, before assessing if you have the time and resources to develop your own series.
Get in touch to find out how you can appear on an EM360Tech podcast.
Get Started With a Business Podcast
There are many benefits to speaking into the mic, whether it’s for brand awareness, creating an engaged community, or lead generation. Still not convinced? Speak to our team to discuss how a podcast can benefit your business before you give it a go.