• by Emily Hummel , Columnist, July 31, 2018

Turns out your grade school counselor was right, image isn’t everything — or at least not when it comes to creating effective advertising. While marketers are obsessing over capturing high-quality graphics to catch the consumer’s eye, they may be missing out on a much cheaper, faster, and more engaging form of content: podcasts. 

One in three Americans aged 25 to 54 listens to a podcast monthly. That’s a huge and growing listenership. Not only are people, across a wide range of backgrounds listening but they are an active, avid audience. According to Midroll Media, “51% of podcast listeners were more likely to buy from the advertised brand.” Meanwhile, a measly 10% of consumers were more likely to purchase a brand advertised during the Super Bowl. 

Not only are a lot of people listening to podcasts, but the right people are listening. Want to reach 30-year-old working women who live active lifestyles and are contemplating becoming vegan? There’s a podcast for that. Podcasts deliver highly tailored content to the niche markets that want to hear about your brand. Plus, there’s a niche for every niche, so you have your target market and your message right where you want them. 

But why stop at getting your content in the middle of someone else’s podcast when you could just make your own? Twenty-plus minutes of remarkable content delivered to a highly engaged audience at an affordable cost? Make that a double. Here are three reasons you should add audio podcasts to your marketing toolkit: 

1. Become the subject matter expert 

Chances are, if you’re a content marketer, you know a thing or two about your brand, product, or industry. Take this opportunity to share the wealth of knowledge and own the space you want your brand to live in. Providing your audience with insightful perspectives on topics they want to learn about gives you major brownie points with potential customers. 

2. Build relationships 

Podcasts offer a personal, relationship-building element that is difficult to replicate through print or other visual media. If you’ve ever listened to a podcast, you know it feels more like listening to an FDR fireside chat than reading a dense, 11-point font report. That relationship between the host and the audience builds trust with the brand.

On podcasts, a brand can transform from a company trying to push a product to a knowledgeable friend spreading helpful advice that improves the lives of the audience. However, with great content comes great responsibility. Make sure you’re pulling listeners in with interesting, usable information that applies to your brand and not just blasting promotional branding that may harm your credibility — cue the 80/20 rule for content versus promotional messaging. 

3. Save time and money 

In the words of G-Easy, “If time is money, I need a loan”— or a podcast. Audio podcasts are low-tech and require fewer resources and editing time. Here’s what you’ll need for a basic podcast starter pack: 

• Microphone: $50 — $75 

ThePodcastHost.com recommends the ATR2100-USB on Amazon.  

• Headphones: $69 

ThePodcastHost.com recommends the ATH-M30x on Amazon. 

• Podcast hosting account:$24 for 12 hours per month 

Hosts, such as Buzzsprout, give you access to stream your podcast on Spotify. With 140 million Spotify subscribers, you may want to get in on this. 

• Skype: Free 

You need this for hosting interviews with other subject matter experts.

• Computer with recording capabilities and Internet: It’s 2018, people. 

Still need more convincing? Check out what the CEO of VaynerMedia and New York Times best-selling author Gary Vaynerchuck wrote about the “Rise of Audio & Voice.” As for the rest of you, happy streaming and may the “pods” be ever in your favor.