Podcast Freq

I published today an interview on The Engaging Brand with Martin Lindstrom who is a self entitled brand futurist. Martin is a wonderful speaker and talked through the importance of senses in marketing. It made me think what an important role podcasting can have in your marketing mix.

Most channels appeal to sight - flyers, magazine ads, advertising on tv, internet banners etc - but podcasting is one of the tools that you can use to appeal to the sense of hearing. When I think about it, I would recognise now most of the podcasts that I listen to by the intro music…it forms part of your branding either on a personal front or as a corporation. One company, that relies on podcasting has just issued their intro music as a ringtone to offer consumers or listeners to their Wiggly Wigglers show - great idea.

Added to the fact that podcasting appeals to your sense of hearing…it does in an intimate way. It is normally a 1:1 connection, often through ear buds…..speaking directly to the podcast consumers mind. I think all this means that we should
1) Choose our music carefully - does it reflect the brand values that you want to convey.
2) Try and link the music across platforms.

We are now very used to audio brands..the Nokia ringtone for example……we should think of our podcast as a product of our brand but also an audi brand in itself.

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A question that I get asked often! My honest answer is no, not if you can afford not too…podcasting is intimate, people are listening not for adverts but for content.

After saying that, I do advertise on one of my podcasts. Why? Genuinely at the time I needed the money. The advertising paid the monthly bills which meant that I could develop the company at a slower pace, ensuring that it achieved what I wanted it to achieve.
The pay off was that I would not include prerecorded adverts…I read them myself and try and build stories around them, thus making it less intrusive. Do I feel guilty…in a sense yes, as podcasting was meant to breaking free from commerciality….but then no! My listeners get great interviews with some of the leading business thinkers….for free. I spend about 5-6 hours a week putting this content together…..is a 30 second story a fair pay back, well I think it is reasonable.

The decision is yours….but whichever way you go, remember that a strength of podcasts is the lack of commerciality, so if you do advertise how can you ensure that even that section adds value?

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