How a Podcast Can Help You Build Brand Awareness

At last count, there are more than 3 million active podcasts and 321,000 business-related podcasts a listener can choose from on any given day. Though it sounds like a daunting task to attract listeners, let alone build brand awareness, a high-quality production can position you as a premium brand against your competitors – and reach more of your ideal clients.

Before we dive into the five ways a podcast can help you build brand awareness, let’s talk about branding. Specifically, the importance of consistency.

To build brand awareness, you need consistency

Brands that stand out share the same handful of attributes: They are unique with a consistent voice, personality, message, and look. They also deliver high quality products, services, marketing, advertising, customer service, etc. every single time.

Shop at REI, stream music via Spotify, track a FedEx package, or call your local banker with a question about your account: you know exactly what to expect. They deliver consistent experiences.

The same is true for your podcast. Brand consistency ensures repeat listeners have a repeat listening experience – consistent volume, consistent quality, consistent message. In other words, they will know exactly what to expect when they download the latest episode.

Now that we are on the same page about brand consistency, let’s talk about brand awareness. Podcasting is a fantastic medium for helping your company gain more visibility with more people.

How a podcast can help you build brand awareness

You will reach a new audience with a podcast

Podcasting is one of many marketing channels, but it’s the only one that is audio-first. It can therefore help you reach new people who prefer listening to audio over watching videos, reading text, or scrolling through an endless social media feed.

Think back twenty years ago. Facebook was brand new, and it was targeted just to college students. My dear friend, Mike Schaffer, was working at a PR agency at the time. He saw the growth of Facebook and realized he – and the agency – could use it to reach a lot of new people.

He approached the executive team. “I want to become a Director of Social Media,” he said. They had no idea what he was talking about, but they let him do it.

They were pioneers – one of the first companies to start using social media and offering social media management to their clients. They enjoyed explosive growth because they used this new channel to reach new people.

Podcasting isn’t a new marketing channel, of course. But do your competitors have a podcast? No? Then you can be the first. Be like Mike. Launch your own podcast now to ensure your competitors don’t drown you out.

You can engage people on a deeper level with a podcast

White papers, blog posts, and Instagram posts are fantastic marketing tools for building brand awareness, but they don’t allow for real-time conversations, and they cannot convey tone, humor, or personality quite like audio.

Podcasting does all of the above, thus allowing you to engage people on a deeper level. By inviting questions and comments and responding to them, you will start to build a community. And your community will tell their friends to tune in.

A podcast is also a great opportunity to introduce your client-facing team members and even your executive leadership team to your listeners.

“Get to know our CEO - not just our marketing people!”

“Join our next Ask Me Anything episode with the head of our product development team!”

You will humanize your brand with a podcast

Don’t underestimate the importance of sharing your personality. Emojis only go so far.

I have one client who can apply positivity to anything they are talking about – and their positivity is infectious. People feel good after listening to their podcast episodes.

Plus, you can hear the passion in someone’s voice when they’re talking about a topic they care deeply about. You can write about the topic, but how many exclamation points does it take to convey that excitement? Words and inflection really do speak volumes. Think of your favorite movie. The script is only just so good until the actors bring the words to life. That same principle applies to how an engaging podcast host can breathe life into your marketing.

A podcast is also an effective way to share your values.

A big office supply chain like Staples probably wouldn’t talk about paper products (unless they are riffing on an episode of The Office). However, they could devote a few episodes to their work with and support of Junior Achievement USA. (I am not affiliated with Staples, nor are they a client – just an example!)

You can share content that positions you as a thought leader

Podcasting allows you to share existing, evergreen content in a new way. For brand awareness purposes, I highly recommend including any evergreen content that positions you as a thought leader.

That white paper that explains a proprietary process (without giving away the farm)? The new industry term you coined? The customer survey results you just published?

Share this on your podcast.

And distributing that podcast to YouTube with a static widescreen logo will also increase traffic to your other content, because Google scrolls audio on YouTube for search ranking. The internet is listening whether or not people are.

Podcasting builds personal and company brands

As people tune into your podcast and get to know the hosts, their personal brands will grow, too. They may become the face or voice of your company. Either way, your company will be building brand awareness.

When choosing a host, look for someone who is personable, willing to put themselves out there, and comfortable talking about multiple topics. It doesn’t have to be the CEO.

It’s important that people connect with the host. They will then form a connection with your podcast, become a regular listener, and (hopefully) start sharing episodes with friends.

A consistent, high-quality podcast can work wonders for your brand

As your podcast producer, you’ll get more than consistent, quality audio from us. We will be your partner, help you realize your vision for your podcast, and deliver a professional product that perfectly represents your brand.