Podcasts as a Marketing Tool
Our morning commute or afternoon walk have been greatly enhanced since the introduction of the podcast, but, just like all forms of entertainment, advertising has made its way to podcasts. Usually pretty unobtrusive, thirty-second commercials interrupt our favorite news or true crime shows. Advertising through podcasts has become a favored strategy for many marketers because the unique medium of a podcast offers marketing benefits that few other platforms provide.
Why Are Podcasts Such an Effective Marketing Tool?
Attention
First and foremost, podcasts capture an audience that is really listening. As opposed to someone half listening to the TV in the background or zoning out while scrolling through social media, a person has a podcast playing when they intend to give it their full attention. When the ads come as short little interruptions to their content, most listeners are not inclined to switch their ears off so suddenly. This provides a captive and attentive audience to which the ad can deliver its message. Additionally, most listeners enjoy podcasts while doing other activities such as driving, cleaning, or running; not many people put on an episode and just stare at the wall. Engaging in a physical activity while listening reduces the likelihood of consumers skipping through the ads, which in my experience requires quite a bit of hand-eye coordination.
Hyper Targeting
While not entirely unique to podcasts, the ability of advertisers to closely target consumers based on their interests is a key advantage of podcasts as a marketing tool. Increased market research data in our digital world allows marketers to make predictions about the likelihood that various customer segments will be interested in their product. This doesn’t just mean advertising some fancy knives on a cooking podcast. It means carefully studying the demographic and psychographic characteristics of podcast listeners, and choosing podcasts with valuable audiences for a brand as a platform. For example, the popular true crime podcast Crime Junkie features advertisements from hair and beauty companies, home security systems, and apparel companies. These advertisements suggest that the demographic audience of crime junkie is primarily women who are conscientious and upper middle class. This is unsurprising as the hosts of the show fit this profile as well. While the advertising content has little to do with the actual show, those listeners who enjoy Crime Junkie are likely to respond well to a Pantene or yoga pant commercial.
Personalization
Podcasts are beloved by so many listeners not only because of the content they provide, but also because of the personalities of the hosts. Unlike traditional television, podcasts are a much more informal setting in which creators allow listeners deeper into their personal lives. Therefore, listeners feel closely connected to the real people that run these shows. With this sense of connection comes trust. Just like influencer marketing, podcast advertisements are exponentially more powerful when the hosts deliver the ads themselves. If the hosts endorse the product, it furthers the association for the listener and they become much more inclined to buy the product, or at least look into it. Because listeners have a good idea of what is going on in hosts’ lives and what products they typically like, trusting an endorsement from a podcaster is almost as reliable as trusting a recommendation from a friend over coffee.