Are you considering promoting your business on podcast ads?
Advertising through podcasts may be one of the most positive steps you take for your business’ growth and success. A recent study saw two to three times more engagement from ads placed on podcasts over ads heard on the radio. When done correctly, podcast advertising, as a strategy, can do wonders for your brand. It can boost user engagement, further your brand's audience and reach, and improve your company's lead generation.
Now might just be the right time to consider integrating a podcast advertising strategy into your brand’s overall marketing strategy. It might surprise you to see the potential influx of positive conversions if you do.
Why your business should consider podcast advertising
Podcasts are rising in popularity and that interest is on the incline. There are approximately 40% of Americans who listen to podcasts and 45% of global internet users who do the same. People lead busy lives and podcasts are a convenient, easy way to tune into your favorite content, whether that be business-related, entertainment, storytelling, etc.
Advertising your business on a popular podcast furthers your brand reach and awareness to consumers. Advertisements through this medium are convenient because users are already invested in listening to the podcast when the ad comes up. They get to learn about your brand and how it brings value to their lives, if they invest in it.
Advertising through podcasts also builds trust and credibility between listeners and your brand, especially if they aren’t already aware of your company or what it does. Podcast listeners are loyal, and when their favorite podcast endorses your products and services, it can convince them that you’re worth a shot and their hard-earned dollars.
Another great bonus to advertising on a podcast to consider is that ads aren’t blocked by ad blockers on podcasts. Research estimates that if ad-blocking rates maintain at their current levels, publishers will lose $35 billion by 2020. With software so prevalent, podcasts provide the perfect avenue for businesses to avoid ad blocking services that hinder brand awareness.
Let’s look at how to advertise your business on popular podcasts so you reach your goals faster, including:
Choosing the right podcast
Picking an ad type
Tracking your ROI
Choose the right podcast
When compiling a list of podcasts on which you plan to advertise your brand and its products, it’s vital that you pick the right ones. It might seem like a wise idea to get a spot for a podcast with a large audience, but if that audience doesn’t care about what you’re selling to them, there’s no point. They’ll listen to your ad and then continue with their lives as they did before.
You need to choose a podcast whose audience’s interests are relevant to what your brand offers. That doesn’t mean that your products and services have to directly tie into the show’s content or relate to it in a narrowed, specific way, but they should cater to that audience’s desires. Ideally speaking, your brand and the podcast it’s advertising on share the same target market.
For example, the podcast GirlBoss boasts a largely female-dominated audience where the show itself dives into topics like women in the media, fertility issues and celebrity interviews. It advertises brands with audiences similar to theirs who are likely to enjoy the ad content they’re consuming, such as Bumble, Sephora and Pinterest. Because the podcast and these brands cater to audiences who share the same needs and interests, it makes sense that GirlBoss would run these ads.
If the podcast you choose to advertise on is going to bring you more customers, you need to know who your target audience is in the first place. Create buyer personas for your target market that give insight into what kind of content and solutions your business can give to your ideal customer. By catering to customer needs, you’re one step closer to successfully advertising through podcasts and improving your lead generation.
Choose the ad type that's right for you
Depending on where you’re at with your business and how much you have to spend on advertising, there are different options to choose from.
John Lee Dumas, who runs the successful podcast Entrepreneur On Fire, argues that there are a few industry-standard rates for podcast advertisements:
A 15-second pre-roll at $18 per 1000 CPMs
A 60-second mid-roll at $25 per 1000 CPMs
A 30-second post-roll at $10 per 1000 CPMs
A CPM, or cost per mille, is the cost a sponsor is willing to pay for every thousand people who listen to your ad.
A pre-roll ad plays at the beginning of the podcast, a mid-roll plays toward the middle, and a post-roll plays at the end. The most popular type chosen by brands is mid-roll because the audience is already engaged and immersed in the content they’re consuming, so placing an ad in between isn’t likely to turn them off or cause them to exit out. However, mid-roll ads are more expensive for this reason.
It’s essential to go back to your budget when choosing the type of ad you’ll invest in to promote your business. You might be in a good place financially so you can afford the mid-roll advertisement if that’s what works best for your marketing strategy, but it’s important to keep in mind that, even if you don’t have the budget, other ad types can be just as lucrative.
Track your podcast advertising ROI
The only way to know how these ads are performing for your business is by tracking important KPIs so you can measure your ROI. There are a few ways to track your progress as it isn’t the easiest to directly track your ad’s performance on another brand’s podcast.
Create a landing page dedicated to converting visitors that come from your podcast ads. Tracking important metrics on a webpage is far easier than for a podcast. While its accuracy won’t measure to the exact number since not every listener is going to engage with your ad, it will still give you an idea of how it’s performing. Track how many unique visitors you attract to your landing page. If the numbers aren’t what you hoped for, try optimizing your CTA so it’s more effective and encourages action.
Another way to measure your ROI is by offering listeners a promo code that only they have access to. Customers from other parts of your marketing strategy won’t have access to it unless they tune into the podcast so you’ll know those users engaged with your ad if they use the code. Some 95% of advertisers use a promo code in their ads to track conversions, so it’s an effective way of seeing where your ads stand.
Wrapping it up
If you’re determined to make advertisements on podcasts a successful avenue to grow your business, there are a few things to keep in mind. Choose the right podcast with the right audience to advertise to so that you don’t waste your budget targeting the wrong people. Choose an ad type that fits your budget but will still appeal to your audience. Finally, measure and track your ROI so you know how your ad performs and can continue creating effective ones in the future. What will you do to advertise your business on popular podcasts?