7 Reasons Innovative Companies Use Podcasts In Inbound Marketing Strategies

by Kim Garmon Hummel, on Jan 11, 2023 9:15:00 AM

All The Cool Kids Are Creating Podcasts: Here’s Why You Should, Too

Imagine you could have a roundtable discussion with experts in your industry and your ideal customer is sitting next to you. What would you say?

With podcasts, you don’t have to imagine that reality. You have a platform that people want to engage with right at your fingertips, and you can create killer content that checks all the boxes for your inbound marketing strategy. You can attract your ideal customer, engage with them through your podcasting community, and delight them with your content.

Over 73 million Americans listen to podcasts once a month. And those who listen weekly average six and half hours of listening time each week. Let that number sink in.

You can’t afford to sleep on the potential podcasts have for creating community, sharing content, and growing your business.

Podcasts Contribute To A Knockout Marketing Strategy

1. Podcasts Offer Collaborative Opportunities That Deliver ROI

Collaboration is your golden ticket to higher visibility, no matter the format of the content. Interview an industry leader, highlight a quote from an expert, or cite a researcher’s recent finding and you’ve got an explosion of exposure.

Podcasts are a dialogue, not a monologue. They’re designed for people to interact, share ideas, and have conversations. That means collaboration is already baked into the podcast format, making powerful collaboration opportunities yours for the making.

Pro tip: sharing is caring, so share your knowledge! Be a guest on others’ podcasts and don’t gatekeep— you’ll set yourself up as a generous expert and benefit from the cross-pollination of information.

2. Podcasts Play Into Your SEO Strategy And Drive Traffic To Your Website

Like any piece of content, podcasts need a plan. An outline, brief, roadmap—whatever you call it—needs to keep you on topic. Even the most effortless, conversational podcast episodes need some structure. Otherwise you’ll start talking about sales software and the next thing you know you’re chatting it up about the 10k you just ran. You’ve lost your audience somewhere down a rabbit hole.

The key to podcasting is to strike a balance between entertaining your audience, showcasing your brand’s personality, and completely going off track and losing focus. A plan helps you do that. Without it, you may end up talking in circles and missing key insights that set you apart as an expert.

Not only do podcast outlines keep you on track and your audience engaged, they also support your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. Your podcast transcript is a goldmine for keywords that drive traffic to your website, so make a list of target keywords to incorporate in your podcast (make it natural and relevant, nobody wants to listen to an SEO bot). Post your transcript and add links to your website, pillar pages, blog posts, and content to create a content universe for visitors to explore.

3. Podcasts Generate Effective Content For Inbound Marketing

Podcast content is effective at doing what good inbound marketing content should do: attract, engage, delight. And, you might find you really enjoy nerding out on your subject.

With the right podcast, you can anticipate and meet your listeners' needs, provide answers, and create a community for devoted fans of your brand. Don't be afraid to be specific with who you're talking to in your audience. We'll unpack this more, but the beauty of podcasts is that there's a podcast for the most microscopic interest. So be quirky, be niche. The more specific you are, the more your ideal audience will be attracted, engaged, and delighted by your content.

4. Podcasts Are A Megaphone For Your Brand

That podcast microphone? It’s not a microphone anymore, it’s a megaphone. Podcasts are everywhere. And when your organization’s name is tied to a podcast, it can spread like wildfire. This ties into the collaborative side of podcasts we talked about in #1.

Let’s say you’re a guest on a podcast with a listening base who’s never heard of you, your brand, or your podcast. One 30 minute interview later, you’ve reached a whole new audience who would never have known you otherwise.

5. Podcasts Let You Get Super-Extremely-Hyper-Specific

Ditch the idea that you need to appeal to everyone. Not only is it bad Inbound Marketing, it’s a huge waste of time and money. Oh, also—it doesn’t work. Why waste time attracting 1,000 potential customers only to have 50 convert into leads? It’s better to make laser-focused content that will attract just those 50 people.

Podcasts let you do just that. Get specific. Not only with your content, but with your tone, messaging, and values, too. Communicate who you are as a brand and what your customers get from doing business with you, and you’ll attract your ideal customers.

You’d be surprised at how narrow the focus of a podcast can be. With over 800,000 active podcasts in the world, uniqueness is encouraged. From a podcast that’s ASMR sounds of a man walking, to an investigative podcast on why McDonalds stopped selling pizza, there’s a podcast for everybody—so go ahead make one for your niche.

Pro tip: the tone of your podcast can pre-qualify your leads. When you’re specific with who you want to engage with your content, the conversions you land will be ready to buy from you.

6. Podcasts Build Brand Community

Most people who listen to podcasts listen while driving, running, walking, or commuting. That means they’ve got you in their ears for a really long time—an infinity in marketing years. You have time to share conversations, experiences, and stories that encourage closeness. You’re inviting your listener into familiarity with you. Barriers fall, and you close the distance between your brand and your ideal customer. Suddenly your listeners are part of your brand’s community. They associate you with value, trust, and friendship, and they return again and again for your content.

7. Podcasts Can Be a Content Multiplier

Podcast content is a lot like Dr. Who’s Tardis: it’s a lot bigger inside than it looks from outside—and it might even bend space and time a bit. That’s probably not a sentence you thought you’d ever read, so let me explain.

When you’re creating marketing content (think: podcasts) consider ways you can expand it from the inside out. In other words, repurpose your content in a variety of formats—simultaneously.

For example: if you’re interviewing an industry leader on your podcast, go ahead and record a video as you do it. When you’re done, release the same content as a video, podcast, and even as longform written content on your blog. Voila! With one content creation effort, you’ve just created three pieces of content you can serve up on every platform.

More content in less time: is time travel real or is that just inbound marketing brilliance?

Start With Strategy At Sauce Agency

Done right, podcasting is a supercharged marketing and sales tool. The best way to ensure your podcast is set up for success is to start with strategy. Strategy is more than hope in a game plan—it’s researched, defined, measurable, and evolving marketing and selling strategy that spans an array of mediums, platforms, and channels. It’s how you turn your business into a revenue generating machine.

Don’t leave your marketing strategy to chance. Schedule a connect call today to learn how Team Sauce can help you #GrowSmarter.