Imagup General Magazine 2024
Any business that wants to stay on top of the competition must go a notch higher in marketing. A good example is Coca-Cola, which is renowned for its global advertising. It has spent 40 billion dollars on advertising in the last 17 years. That’s why they have remained relevant and are the market leader in their industry.
You might have the best product, but if you don’t have the right strategies to make your voice heard, your business will soon be extinct.
Thanks to the advancement of technology, you can now combine various products with media to reach a broader audience.
Podcasts have become the new go-to marketing method for businesses today. Its popularity has gone overboard as it’s a powerful marketing tool to reach prospects. Today, 72% of companies with 100 to 500 employees are tuning in.
With this massive shift, it hints that there is something these businesses are getting which you are missing. Here’s why your small business needs a podcast today.
1. Bringing in New Clients
If you didn’t know, many qualified prospects are hiding in your audience. They are just waiting for you to hit that pain point, and they will come calling your name.
You will, however, need to create a large following. Prospects may not listen to all your podcasts, but they have liked your podcasts. If something piques their interest, they will reach out for inquiries that mark the beginning of your conversation.
Ken Greene, who is the owner of the Engineer of Finance, has seen a tremendous growth of inquiries from clients since he began using podcasts. He advises that you should educate your audience as much as you can while being personal to win clients.
Try to demonstrate your credibility without having to force your products/services down your listeners’ throats. This is the USP that builds familiarity with a wide range of audiences.
2. An ideal Alternative to Video
Video marketing became a quick hit to businesses when it was introduced. Established companies that embraced this strategy left those without a robust capital source fighting for the residue in the marketing field.
Businesses without video equipment must break their profit flow, looking for money to make marketing clips. There are many variables in video creation like lighting, background, and sound that will take a sizeable amount of business money.
Thanks to podcasts, marketing using media have been put on level ground. Every business can battle for a fair share of the market. Why? There is no considerable difference between podcasts and video marketing. All have the same results if hard work and creativity is kept constant.
The good thing is that podcasts will only use a quarter of the budget you will use in video marketing. All you need is a clear sound system, and you are good to go.
3. They Create Brand Awareness
There are several ways to make your business authoritative in an industry. This means that you will not run around looking for opportunities; they will be coming directly to you. Given that we were in the 20th century, podcasts must also take a share.
Reaching such peaks requires that you have a solid strategy. This chosen strategy must ensure that all your listeners get hefty perks that make them bring referrals. The audience must be familiar with your brand, which they can only get if you deliver numerous podcasts.
What do you get after you have made a household name? An increase in your customer base that positively reflects on your sales. Besides, you will command respect whenever you are invited to a conference and meetings. This is the power of becoming an authoritative figure.
4. A podcast is not Monotonous
Do you feel the overload? Every time you visit a business website, there are chunks of blog posts to read. It’s more painful if the blog posts are not engaging. That’s why the attention span for content marketing is 8 seconds, which continues to decrease by 88% every year.
Podcasts have changed the game. Audio information tends to be more engaging that breaks the monotony of written content.
Similarly, it’s straightforward to assimilate the information. If you have excellent public speaking skills, there is a higher chance of getting numerous followers as you can easily make them stick to your podcast show.
A study done on 300,000 podcast listeners found that 63% of them purchased a product that had been advertised on the podcast. 71% said that the podcast influenced them to visit the sponsor’s website, while 61% said that they loved the new product. All of these were affected by the engaging ability of podcasts.
5. Starting a Podcast is Fast and Not Costly
Barriers to starting a podcast are extremely low. Libsyn (https://www.libsyn.com) is a podcast hosting platform that makes it easy to get started. That’s why people are podcasting about everything. They don’t complain about the process they went through when setting things up.
You will find podcasts about yoga, financial management, knitting, and how to live a healthy life. No industry has been left behind, like what other forms of media marketing do.
The creation process does not have a lot of steps. Similarly, the equipment needed is not expensive and is easy to get. These include high-quality microphones and headphones. You can get free editing software by downloading from the Google Play Store. This article from Performance Funnels looks at the different types of podcast hosting platforms.
This can all be done by yourself, and you don’t even need an expert to help you set these things up. A simple google search on how to start a podcast will give you more than enough information.
Bottom-line
Podcasts are not only about giving information to the audience. Its main aim is to create a discussion and to hold the audience’s attention for as long as possible.
In today’s world, there is no excuse for not using it as part of your business marketing strategy. Those that have tried it before agree that it’s one of the most effective methods of digital marketing. The process is fun, you learn a lot, and it helps keep your audience engaged.
