Companies looking to reach the growing global podcast audience have been creating their own shows, known as branded podcasts. These podcasts are an extension of the brand and can be created for several important reasons such as thought leadership, having control over your brand, and creating positive engagement around your brand. Usually, these types of podcasts are created in-house and your company is fully responsible for the content, including any references to your brand’s products/services.
Here are a few ways companies can benefit from having a branded podcast:
The first way branded podcasts are beneficial to your company is that you have full control over your content in contrast to inserting ads in other podcast shows. Since the brand creates all of the content in the podcast series you can decide how you share the brand with audiences. Your company can strategically place these brand mentions within an episode which could provide a more effective way for listeners to understand the usefulness of your products or services.
By creating your own podcast, a brand can pick and choose how, when, and where to advertise their products or services within the episodes. These product plugs can be done in a way that’s obvious or in a way that is more discreet.
An example of a company using a branded podcast to have full control over their messaging is The Message podcast by General Electric (GE). “The Message” is a science fiction podcast in a journalistic style. In the podcast, scientists work to decode extraterrestrial messages using real technology developed and sold by GE. This is a great example of how GE decided to tell
their brand story in a truly original and creative way. They had full control over how they expressed their brand through the podcast medium.
By starting a branded podcast you have created another way for potential customers to interact with your brand. This can help your brand seem more approachable and for larger businesses this can be the key to being viewed as more personable. Another benefit is that you can tell your brand story to your audience over time (daily, weekly, monthly) through digestible podcast episodes. As long as you’re creating high-quality podcast content on topics your audience cares about, you’ll be able to deliver your message to them consistently.
The way to discover if audiences are enjoying your podcast episodes is through engagement and analytics. Are there a high number of listeners tuning in to each episode? Is there conversation being sparked online as a result of your episodes? Branded podcasts have the potential to create positive online conversations around your brand.
The Thank God It’s Monday (TGIM) podcast by Shopify is an example of a branded podcast that has created positive engagement around a company. The show includes inspirational stories about entrepreneurs that turned their ideas into a successful startup. Shopify has received a lot of positive reviews for this podcast which shows that their listeners are engaged.
Branded podcasts can be part of your company’s marketing arsenal. They can be used alongside your other forms of content marketing and lead generation to help the company become a thought leader on a specific topic. This strategy will drive a lot of traffic to your website and product offerings. As a result of this content, your sales have the potential to increase.
These podcasts can be about any topic even ones not necessarily directly related to the brand itself. An example of a branded podcast is one created by Slack. While Slack is in the business of using software for collaboration in the workplace, Slack did not just focus their podcast on
software. Instead, they created a branded podcast called ‘Work In Progress’ about the workplace as a whole. This is smart marketing because a podcast about software would never be that popular, but Slack understands that people are interested in the future of workplaces. Therefore they are able to expose listeners to their brand over longer periods of time with content they really care about, that still relates to their business.
Another way branded podcasts can be beneficial is by creating an internal one for your team. An internal podcast is one produced by the company for its employees. There are several reasons why an internal podcast can be useful for a company such as delivering internal communications, culture building, learning and development, and onboarding new employees.
An example of a branded podcast produced for a company’s internal team is the Tell Me Why podcast by American Airlines. The company made their show because they have many employees who admitted in internal surveys that they wanted to know more about corporate policies. The podcast has various episodes that share this information with American Airline employees in an engaging way.
Starting a branded podcast can help your company become a thought leader, create positive engagement around your brand, and allow you to completely control your content. Since starting a branded podcast isn’t very expensive, companies should consider starting one to reap the benefits of this medium. If you’re interested in hiring help to get your branded podcast up and running or to support your ongoing production needs consider hiring one of our freelancers.
Amanda Desouza is a Toronto-based content strategist and writer for Quill. She is passionate about covering stories related to business, lifestyle and tech.
