Should My Brand Create a Podcast?

Should my brand create a podcast? Maybe! Here's how to do it.

Brands should think bigger than blogs or social media when creating a content marketing strategy. There are innumerable tools that can reach potential clients, and podcasts have quickly become a popular resource for content marketing among brands. If you’ve never done this before, though, it’s understandable that you may have some questions. 

Here’s a quick guide with the answers. 

Benefits of podcasts as content marketing

Before jumping into the world of branded podcasts, it’s important to know if doing so is right for you. After all, a content strategy that succeeds in one industry may fall flat in another. To get a better feel on whether a podcast will benefit your brand, it’s important to start by considering the advantages of such an endeavor. 

• Increases traffic to your website. 
• Fosters personable relationships with listeners. 
• Simple to create with potentially huge ROI. 
• One of the most engaging marketing tools available. 
• Promotes industry thought leadership. 
• Increases brand awareness.

Of the many benefits of podcasts as a content marketing tool, what may stand out the most is the potential return on investment. A recent study found that for every dollar put into a podcast, brands see a $2.42 return. Add this to the authority you’ll earn in the industry, and podcast marketing may seem like more of a necessity than a luxury. 

How to start a branded podcast

Unlike other content marketing strategies, creating a branded podcast is more involved than simply writing a blog post. Fortunately, it’s not that much more involved. Many companies don’t have a podcast presence simply because they think building one is too complex. As the following steps show, however, this simply isn’t the case. 

• Create a concept: You'll need to decide what your podcast will focus on, the name of your show, the format, and a target length. 
• Brand the podcast: Create a description that grabs potential listeners' attention. Cover artwork is also necessary to stand out. 
• Record and edit: Get started! Record your first podcast episode and then edit it for clarity, length, and more. An actual microphone is beneficial here. 
• Choose a host: There are no shortages of hosting companies out there who would love to be your podcast's home. 
• Get syndicated: Getting your podcast episodes into an RSS feed will allow them to get distributed through major app stores.

It’s important to always remember that your brand’s podcast is content marketing. Unless your business model revolves around opinionated discourse, you shouldn’t use these episodes as a soapbox. Find out what your target audience is interested in and run with it. This is a recipe for success. 

Choosing podcast topics

Most brand leaders understandably have trouble coming up with podcast ideas when they’re first starting out. Simply “winging it” can turn potentially great content marketing into a disaster. Instead, consider the following ideas: 

• Repurpose popular content into entire episodes. 
• Answer the most pressing questions in your industry. 
• Create a series on particularly hot topics. 
• Discuss major current events within your industry. 
• Build episodes around issues your clients need solved. 

These may seem like basic content marketing ideas, but that’s really all a branded podcast is! Promoting companies always comes down to offering value. If you can pull that off, your fledgling podcast can turn into a promotional powerhouse. 

Let podcast marketing transform your brand! 

Brands need every advantage they can get in this quickly evolving digital world. While traditional marketing has its place, podcasts and other creative content marketing tools have quickly overcome billboards and television commercials. A podcast may not be right for your brand, but if you can provide consumers actual value, you might find this is the promotional resource you’ve been looking for. 

Dear BAMf Podcast

We have our very own podcast at BAM, the Dear BAMf Podcast. Dear BAMf is an advice column-style podcast that lets you anonymously hit us with your hardest marketing and PR questions hosted by Founder & CEO of BAM Communications, Beck Bamberger. Catch all our episodes on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts.