Are your marketing campaigns flexible enough to adapt to things like the burgeoning sharing economy; do they cast a wide enough net to haul in both the niche and the general market? Considering the increasing complexity, fragmentation and competition of every conceivable venue out there, what can a marketer do to guarantee the future relevance of his or her marketing campaign?
The one-word answer is: Podcasting.
Here is what the Pew Research Center says about podcasting in 2015: "Advances in technology -- in particular, the rapid growth in use of smartphones and mobile devices in addition to the increased ease of in-car listening -- have contributed to the uptick of interest in podcasts. The percentage of Americans who have listened to a podcast in the past month has almost doubled since 2008, from 9 percent to 17 percent by January of 2015. The percentage listening in 2015 was up two points over 2014 levels (15 percent)."
There are five major reasons you should include podcasting in your marketing strategy:
1. A body of work that can be repurposed easily and profitably
According to podcast producer Jonah Geil-Neufeld:
Here are a few things you can do with this amazing body of podcast work you're growing:
- Turn podcasts into full-blown blog posts, complete with show notes and quotes.
- Turn podcasts into a CD, flash drive, or other physical item to give to clients, connections, and partners.
- Bring in sponsors to create revenue from your podcasts.
- Cover live events and conferences in new and interesting ways through your podcast interviews.
2. Attract the primo influencers to your marketing campaign
Suppose you've done your homework and you know that Kim Kardashian is the influencer that speaks with the most authority to the niche audience you are targeting (remember, this is JUST supposition). Which invitation do you think a busy celebrity like her is more likely to accept -- "Please let me interview you for a blog about my product", or "Please appear on my podcast, which has a potential audience of over ten-thousand viewers"? The best and brightest influencers already know that podcasts are the wave of the future -- that's why they're the best and the brightest for now!
3. Podcasts are becoming more and more economical to produce
Any marketing budget can take the strain of starting and maintaining a regular podcast. With today's technology, it's possible to produce a credible podcast using nothing more complicated than an iPhone with a few hundred dollars worth of audio and studio equipment.
4. Which brings up the fact that podcasting is ideal for mobile marketing.
Brett Parry, VP and Director of Search at StreamLineVRS says, "Listening to and watching a podcast on a mobile device is what more and more people are doing. Someone who ignores television and radio ads, who never looks at a newspaper coupon and spurns online pop ups, will likely go to an informational podcast while they're commuting or at Starbucks. Tell a riveting story on your podcast and you've got a guaranteed audience. We see a lot of destination marketers using podcasts to promote their locations and getaways."
5. Room to grow
The blogging world is over saturated according to marketing strategist Alissa Meredith and she is spot on in her assessment. "There's little room and less incentive to come up with a new and creative blog with quality content than ever before," says Meredith "But podcasting is still virgin territory for the marketer. You can still carve out a niche that is distinctive to your brand and attract tens of thousands of viewers. It's being done all the time, right now."