This blog post will explain the various techniques employed in podcast production to acquire more clients, increase revenue, and develop more online sales. Whether you are a veteran podcaster, just starting out, or have never made a podcast, here you will find the best approaches to use podcast production to market your business to a targeted audience, build trust with your prospects and generate highly qualified leads that convert into those all-important sales. The good news: your podcast show can do this for your business without needing to have tens of thousands of downloads.
Let's dive right in.
Content marketing is the strategy of putting out shareable, valuable content to an audience on a regular and consistent basis - such as blog posts, YouTube videos, and podcasts. Podcasts fall into the TOFU & MOFU segment in a marketing funnel. It is a form of content that you can use to convert a cold audience into warm.
Since its conception in 2003, podcasting has boomed in popularity and now boasts a 424.2 million worldwide listener base, representing 20.3% of global internet users. As of June 2022, there are an astounding 2.4 million podcast show with over 66 million episodes. The amount of listeners has risen 9.4% in the last year alone.
This offers a wealth of potential customers that businesses can leverage. It is not too late to begin recording and to produce a high-quality podcast that your target customers will benefit from and enjoy listening to. You do not need expensive podcast equipment or a fancy recording studio to start your podcast production. You can start preparing to launch a podcast that will generate qualified leads for your podcast today.
Podcasts create more genuine connections with your listeners than any other marketing channel. It turns your listeners into avid followers and builds trust in your brand. Your listeners grow to understand the value of the content you put out in your podcast episodes and develop loyalty to invest their time into listening to future episodes.
As well as expanding your reach onto a new and highly diverse platform, podcasting allows you to increase website traffic generation and overall conversion rates because of the like and trust factor. A robust, quality podcast can help move listeners through that sales continuum to a strong connection and business relationship.
The only way for customers and prospects to take meaningful, valuable action is for them to feel like they know and trust your brand. How does that come about? They need to invest a considerable amount of time engaging with your brand. This is why podcasts are a powerful asset for your company; podcast episodes are uniquely suited to hold hours of dedicated engagement and time investment with an audience.
Podcasting allows brands and businesses to directly communicate to and captivate an audience. Our lives tend to be on the go, so the power to broadcast your brand voice at any time, from anywhere, gives you an unlimited amount of options to share your narrative. Having a consistent presence on major podcast platforms, and being there when customers are searching for you and your podcast show, can position you a reliable leader and trusted authority in your niche.
As well as building a connection and trust with current customers and prospects, podcast production is also a powerful lead-generation tool. It serves as an accessible entry point for potential customers to begin engaging with your brand. You can use your podcast episodes to then guide listeners down the sales funnel, turning listeners into highly qualified leads, and then with time translate those leads into loyal, converted customers.
Podcasting also presents the opportunity to repurpose the material across multiple platforms, in various forms of content or media, to increase your reach and attract additional leads. Content diversity can ensure you are reaching each type of potential prospect regardless of what their preferred method of content consumption may be at any given point in time.
Podcasting is also great choice for content production for your business if you don't feel comfortable in front of a camera. Recording podcast audio allows you to produce the content and valuable insights you want to share with your audience without the fear of being on video for thousands to see. Making edits to your audio files is also a relatively simple process using audio editing software such as Audacity or Adobe Audition, to make sure you are comfortable with what you’ve said, how your audio quality sounds and the overall value that your podcast episode is bringing to your listeners.
Now that we've established what podcasting is and the benefits of creating one, let's move on to what you can do to start generating those leads. You’ve heard the phrase “..content is king..”, right? Content is a critical factor in any marketing plan to generate conversions.
There is no expectation when it comes to podcasting.
Before jumping into your podcast production process and recording your first podcast episode, you need to be clear on the kind of content you are going to produce. To start, you should always consider your audience. Conduct audience research and competitor analysis. This will help you identify any potential gaps in the market for an enjoyable and useful podcast show that your customers would like to listen to on a regular basis.
Concentrate on generating content that solves your customers' problems by giving them solutions they can easily put into action. Are there any particular difficulties that usually arise during conversations with customers? What topics are those in your sector curious about? To come up with some ideas for this, you could use a tool such as "Answer The Public" in order to find ideas related to significant topics in your specialty.
Always keep in mind the key component of any podcast, especially for B2B podcasts, is keeping your content relevant to what your audience wants or needs to know. This could be a thought leader interview, or a solution to an industry problem or business challenge.
When you have a clear vision for the kind of content you will produce, it is time to prepare for recording. If you want to produce a podcast show that your customers will enjoy listening to, you need to put some effort into the audio production and sound quality of your show.
You do not need to invest in an expensive recording device, but using an external microphone for recording podcast audio can make a huge difference to the sound quality of the raw recordings compared to using the built-in mic on your computer.
Some simple considerations to where you do your podcast recording can remove background noise that may otherwise be difficult to edit from your audio files in post-production.
There is a huge variety of audio editing software available where you do not need to be an expert to produce a podcast show that has high quality audio. With a little practice and time, you will be consistently producing podcast recordings that are comparable to other highly regarded podcasts and even radio production standard.
By now you have decided to produce a podcast, you have a clear vision for your podcast episode content, and your audio production process is producing high quality episodes for your audience.
What do you need to do for your podcast to generate leads?
There are different formats that your podcast show can take, and depending on the kind of business problems you want to solve for your customers, both can have their advantages for generating leads.
For instance, you could choose a conversational, relaxed interview format, like "The Day One Podcast". This format can convey a sense of community, allows you to deeply explore an issue your customer is facing, and bring in the help and view of an expert in your field.
Alternatively, you could opt for a narrative style like "Transforming Insight Podcast". An informal solo/monologue approach, or a non-fictional storytelling podcast format, can give you the opportunity to let your creativity shine through. While you can be as creative as you like, make sure each episode is relevant to the issues you are solving for your customers and aligns with the messaging you are trying to convey.
Why not switch up your style every once in a while, to give your audience something different and keep them interested for longer and come back time and time again.
There is no reason to limit yourself to publishing your podcast on a single channel. Make sure to capitalise on its full value and potential by repurposing the content on other platforms.
You could turn one episode into potentially 10-15 pieces of additional content that you can use to target customers on every corner of the internet. Transform the episode into a blog post or long-form article, extract a few minutes of the episode to make TikTok videos and Instagram Reels. You can use key quotes from your podcast episode to create social media posts and Pinterest graphics. Audiograms prove to be a highly engaging form of content that social media users engage with. If you are comfortable with recording visuals, you can create a YouTube video. Your audience research will tell you which social media platforms your target customers are using and you can decide what content will suit.
Each new piece of content can be tailored to your target audience on these platforms, driving more traffic and leads to your business. The more places where prospects and leads can find and engage with your content the better.
For those who have tuned into your podcast, the potential to drive more leads to your business is a strong reality. They have invested time in listening to you podcast, so there’s a good chance they might be interested in your website and discover more about what your business has to offer.
By using ad retargeting tools such as Google Ads or social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, you can advertise your website or sales page to these individuals. Building a podcast audience of people that are genuinely interested in what you’re doing is a great way to authentically increase the number of leads you generate towards your goal.
Develop a routine of creating CTAs that are relevant to the content of the podcast and that provide value to the listener. An effective, simple way to do this is by offering downloadable white papers or cheat sheets that provide more detail on the topic. Strategically place the CTAs by studying your statistics and metrics to determine the average listening time and where the most common drop-off points occur. For best results, three CTAs should be included in each episode. The first should be placed at the beginning of the podcast before the episode starts, the second should be positioned at an ideal spot in the middle of the episode, and the third should be put at the end of the show to conclude the episode.
Check out our blog post How to Create Effective Calls-to-Action in your podcast for more detail on this.
The likelihood of your podcast listeners finding your landing page without being directed there is not very high. You will need to point them in the right direction by telling them to go to your landing or sales pages in your CTAs in your episodes. The type of in-episode calls-to-action you use will depend on the lead magnet you are offering, but it is important to clearly state the advantages that come with it. When you are asking your audience to do something, they need to understand what is in it for them to take action.
Encourage your podcast listeners to sign up for your emails by offering special discounts, a complimentary download, or other pieces of valuable content, such as a comprehensive white paper, a chance to win an attractive prize, or a free consultation.
Listeners who have converted into leads are more engaged with your brand, so it makes sense to reward that loyalty and show appreciation for their commitment in someway by offering something of value.
Listeners who have come across your podcast or podcast content will start building a relationship with your company, and when they download a high-intent content piece they instantly become more likely to convert into your customer.
You can further drive traffic by retargeting those visitors with content that brings them further through your sales funnel and encourages them to purchase your product. Examples of this type of content include webinar sign-ups, case studies, and white papers.
In summary, here is a full set of ways to take advantage of the power of podcast production to elevate your business, generate highly-qualified leads that have a higher chance of converting, and supercharge your brand:
1. Create something that brings your audience value, and you will create a podcast show that accumulates a devoted following. Using podcast production to generate leads is no different from a content marketing strategy, other than it is more personal and engaging. Everyone absorbs and processes media in different manners, but podcasts are continuously on the rise!
2. Guide the audience during the episode with a call-to-action. This could be directing them to a specific page of your website, offering a discount code, inviting them to download a free guide or white paper, or even book an introductory call.
3. More traffic fills the sales funnel, which in turn, drives sales. A dedicated and trusting listenership will become leads in your sales funnel. As your show grows, you will see a corresponding growth in traffic and sales.
For more insider knowledge on why podcasting isa great way to grow your business, contact us at Zorbiant.
