Brands That Podcast

The power of podcast tours.

"Pound for pound, I think a brand is always better off being featured as the content rather than the advertiser."

Laura doesn't hide the fact that getting invited on as a guest to other people's shows is the #1 way MeetEdgar has gained customers. At one point, she makes the analogy that podcast tours (being a guest on other shows) is like guest blog posting, but without all the work of writing and editing an article.

Essentially, when you're a guest on someone else's show, you get to talk directly to the audience they've worked hard to build up. Which is an amazing opportunity, but also a weighty responsibility. One that she takes seriously.

Bringing value to listeners.

"Be likeable, be authentic, and be yourself. I don’t come in with talking points where I’m trying to promote my company. No one wants to listen to an advertisement. I find that the value of podcasts is forming a personal connection between the people behind the brand, and the customer."

Given how powerful podcast tours have been for Laura and the ME team, it might be temping for some to just "rinse and repeat" that process. But Laura is always very thoughtful about her guest appearance.

With each one, she strives to do 2 things:

1. Drop any canned pitches/selfish focuses, and be as authentic and relatable as possible.
2. Bring as much value as possible to the listeners.

This means that for each interview, she's thinking about who the audience is, and trying to bring insight or value that will make their lives better.

She also points out that podcasting is uniquely powerful in that, unlike almost any other medium, it allows listeners to feel like they "know" your company. By listening to Laura talk for 30+ minutes and hearing her story, listeners are able to better relate to MeetEdgar and the values it stands for.

As we'd say, it "builds trust" unlike any other medium.

Everyone should try podcasting, in some form or another.

“I just think for so many companies it’s worth a shot. Audio is such a low resource medium."

MeetEdgar has since started it's own show, and Laura recommends that every company try audio in some form or another. She points out that if you have customers, they probably listen to a podcast. Which means you can reach them there.

You don't have to do podcast tours (like she did) either. There's ads, creating your own show, or even creating an employee-focused show.

But she does recommend that everyone try it as a marketing channel.

And loads of practical tips.

Besides the main takeaways, Laura shares really nitty gritty practical things, like how she devotes 1 week every month as "podcast week". During this week, she books as many as 4 interviews a day, and 20 in a week. This allows her to knock out a bunch of interviews in a short time frame, so she can get back to doing other work the rest of the month.

Check em' out

• MeetEdgar's website
• Social Post Podcast

The 4 channels.

We discuss:

1. Podcast tours
2. Branded podcasts
3. Internal podcasts
4. Podcast advertising

For each one, we'll give examples, and help you decide if this is a good fit for you.

The unique value each channel provides.

SEO against PPC are different from each other. Each has pros and cons. And these channels are the same way. Each offers something unique, and each has a downside.

Podcast tours let you grow awareness and trust in your brand or product unlike anything else. They allow people to feel like they know you, and offer the benefit of reaching your ideal audience on a show that someone else built. The downside is that pitching shows is a long process that has to be done thoughtfully, with care. And at the end of the day, that audience can still be taken away from you (if the show deletes the episode, etc.).

Branded podcasts let you build an audience that you can talk to every week. There's nothing like it. You can bring value to their lives, and use your podcast to produce loads of articles or social media content. But building an audience is hard, and takes time, and starting a podcast isn't an easy process.

Internal podcasts let you unify your team around a single message, empower your employees to share their voice, and help you attract top talent.

Podcast ads offer the farthest reach and the shortest timeline. You can share your message, immediately, with any shows that will have you. However, this builds the least amount of trust, and listeners can simply decide to tune out the ad segment on the show or skip it entirely.

Which channels you should choose, if you have limited time/budget.

Bottom line: podcasting is an incredibly powerful medium. It's almost unparalleled in how it lets you connect with your ideal audience, on the go, in a way that lets them feel like they really know you. And each channel offers its own unique value, so you've just got to decide what matters the most to you (or invest in all 4).

Most brands would benefit from using a combination of all of them. For example, if you go on a podcast tour, you can promote your podcast.

But the reality is that you probably don't have the time or budget to do all 4. So as we discuss each one, we tried to help you distinguish if a particular channel was a good fit for you where you are now.

Check em' out

• Jeremiah on Twitter or LinkedIn
• Erik on Twitter or LinkedIn
• Lemonpie

The ROI of podcasting.

Lots of companies are interested in podcasting, but aren’t sure how to measure its ROI.

And that makes sense, because (at least in our minds) podcasting is really more a “brand marketing” play (vs. a “direct” one). In other words, it’s primary use is to build an audience, build trust, and establish yourself as the expert in your industry.

And we were encouraged to hear that DG’s thinking on this wasn’t far from ours. In the episode, he gives a nice breakdown of the 2 main benefits podcasting gives:

#1 – It provides a way to produce a lot of content. Each episode could yield 10, 20, or 50+ pieces of content (long-form articles, social posts, etc.).

#2 – It lets you build an audience that trusts you, and is more likely to buy from you when they’re ready to make a purchase.

Oh, and he talked about this concept for both B2B and B2C brands.

Using your podcast as a core part (or “anchor”) of your marketing strategy.

Another helpful insight DG pointed out was that, if you _already _have a strategy, and are producing content on a number of channels, you might find it difficult to know how or where a podcast would “fit in”.

At Privy, their podcast is the strategy. It’s an “anchor” or a core part of their marketing efforts.

What this means is that instead of them figuring out when and where to share podcast episodes amidst all the other content they’re sharing, they draw content from the podcast, and add miscellaneous audio content to the podcast.

In other words, they start with Privy’s podcast and draw inspiration from that, which translates into long-form articles, webinars, interviews, social posts, and more.

This is why DG sees content production as one of the biggest reasons every brand should be podcasting. If you start with the podcast, and capture the content in audio form, you can both:

1. Draw social posts, blog posts, website content, etc. from the show, and...
2. Take other content (recorded webinars or YouTube videos), strip out the audio, and add it to your podcast (provided it fits the “feel” of the show), to add more value to your listeners.

This is a pretty helpful concept for a lot of companies, who otherwise are just recording episodes, not doing anything with them, and hoping that people just “show up”.

It also helps to give you an idea of what “place” a podcast might have at your company.

You don’t need thousands of listeners, or “viral” growth to be successful.

Lots of companies who are considering starting a podcast think it’s only worth it if the show gets thousands of listeners, or grows by 25%+ every month. They think that if they don’t have thousands of downloads and subscribers, it’s not worth the investment.

DG breaks down how that’s absolutely not true. Instead, he shares how reality is that most shows won’t attain more than 5-10% growth each month, and most shows get tens of thousands of downloads, ever.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Far from it.

If you’re a B2B brand, you could top out at just 500 listeners (and most anyone could scratch and claw their way to 500 listeners), and provided those listeners are you’re target audience, that means you literally get to talk to them every time they tune in.

The two biggest factors to growing your show are content, and consistency.

While there are a lot of specific tactics you can try to share your podcast with your ideal audience, DG is confident that, at the end of the day, growing your show boils down to having on great guests or creating amazing content, and being consistent with it.

While it might not be what a lot of companies want to hear who may be looking to podcasting as some magic bullet, it’s what we’ve found at Lemonpie as well. Don’t get us wrong, you can definitely do certain things to reach more listeners. Heck, we’re writing a book ...

Buffer is a social media management company serving small businesses, and it's especially known for one thing: radical transparency.

From the start, the company has openly shared revenue numbers and the ups and downs of building the business. This transparency extends to its two podcasts: the Science of Social Media and Breaking Brand.

The podcasts serve different purposes and are produced quite differently, but there is one commonality: each places a premium on providing value to the audience.

In this episode of Brands That Podcast, Ash Read, Buffer's Editorial Director, sits down with Erik to discuss:

• Why podcasts are valuable (even if audience growth is slower than a blog)
• Transparency as a tool for growth
• How to get creative with your podcasting style
• Being resourceful with your podcast content

And a ton more. As always, hope you enjoy it and use it to grow your own brand.

Espree Devora sat down for a "fireside chat" and AMA with Erik. Listen as they talk about getting your podcast to the top charts, how brands can use podcasting to grow, and more.