Podcasting is on the Rise

For businesses new and old, now's the time to take advantage of the growing podcast user base. In less than five years, the podcast industry saw a staggering listenership growth of 70%. Thanks to COVID-19, that number has surged again by another 10% in just a few months - Canadians are now listening to podcasts more than ever before!

One of the reasons podcasts have become so popular boils down to convenience and ease of consumption. Unlike sitting down to read a blog, podcasts encourage enjoyment, learning and value simply through listening, whether that be over a morning coffee or on the commute to work.

For business owners, a simple podcast tool can help build a strong and loyal following which in turn drives quality leads to your website - advertising of products and services through podcasts has seen on average a 14% rise in purchaser intent, which is why we've updated our podcast tool to help you reap these benefits.

Benefits of Podcasts for Businesses

Shareable:

With our tool, podcasts can be put directly on your website as well as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iTunes and Google Play - all of which can be embedded and shared across platforms.

Are one way to deliver on a social networking strategy:

Your podcast subscribers are the core of your community and over time, they will be your best prospects for deepening the relationship through cross-sell and loyalty tactics.

Build better relationships with your audience:

Podcasts are more personal - by listening to your voice and your direct communication, consumers are more likely to trust you and be interested in your content.

Time-efficient to create:

It can certainly be easier to talk than it is to write, but one podcast perk is that you can repurpose previously made content, such as a blog, and turn it in to a podcast.

Perfect alternative to video:

Video is by far one of the most popular marketing tools, however, not everyone is comfortable in front of the camera and with podcasts, you don't have to worry as much about editing or visual elements.

Traffic growth / referral traffic:

Referral traffic is also a perk of podcasts, as listeners are likely to recommend or pass it on to others they think will be interested, especially when they're easily shared.

Easy to make and create:

The Bloomtools podcasting tool allows you to upload audio to your website with ease for your customers to listen to, displaying it professionally on your site.

SEO:

Podcasts are yet another element that you can use to boost your search engine rankings - more tips on how to do this below!

Build authority:

Show your expertise and establish yourself as the recognisable person consumers want to come to when they think about your industry.

Getting Started

To get started with your podcast tool, having a clear goal in mind and a view of the topics you want to cover will help steer you in the right direction. In the past, we've seen clients use podcasts in creative and valuable ways. For some, they've been doing Digital Marketing Podcasts (e.g. Bloomtools Mississauga) or for those in the travel industry, creating podcasts focused on destination reviews.

Types of Podcasts

One-on-one interviews:

With guests, industry experts, your target market, people who use your product/service.

The panel show:

This type of podcast is often great for news/current affairs style shows. It consists of a host and a number of guests (often experts) that rotate each week.

Tips and tricks / lessons:

Share the knowledge you have on your speciality - for instance, if you're a veterinarian, you could discuss health tips for pet owners or even share educational tips for student veterinarians.

Product reviews:

This could be a product you use as part of your services - it helps other businesses while also helping yourself.

Q&As:

Have pre-submitted questions ready to answer and discuss, alternatively, you can write out a list of frequently asked questions you receive from customers and answer those.

Product guides:

If you sell products, create podcasts around best practices to use them.

Now you know what type of podcast you want to craft, think about what your goals are or what benefits you want to reap the most. Once you have an idea, you're ready to get started.

Tips for Creating Your Podcast & SEO for Your Podcast to be Found

1. Start by listening to what other leading experts in your industry are saying - pinpoint their main focuses, see what questions they're raising and listen out for any points or interesting topics they're missing - this will help you come up with discussion points for your own podcast.
2. Pick your theme - using your ideas and what your competitors are missing in their own podcasts, figure out how you can create your content through a theme valuable to your potential customers - most likely, this is whatever your speciality is.
3. Following point 2, consider any niche topics in your markets and craft ideas around those.
4. When you're ready to record, you might be wondering how long your podcast should be - a study found the average length of a podcast is 38 minutes and 42 seconds, however, they ranged upwards from a minimum of 8 minutes.
5. Utilise your keywords in your content - like all optimised content, your keywords come in handy yet again, so be sure to include them naturally while speaking and in written descriptions of the podcast.
6. Speak clearly - Google has a voice recognition feature that picks up keywords in audio. The more phrases and keywords Google can interpret clearly, the better for your SEO.
7. Uploading a transcript of your podcast - this can be a tedious task, but this is another area that's suggested to be taken into consideration by Google's crawlers, which finds keywords in parts of your podcasts transcript to match to a user's search query.
8. Remember: a podcast is only as good as it's delivery - don't overthink the content or be afraid to show your personality - the more invigorating you are the more that potential customers will listen.
9. Save file as a MP3 and if the file size is too big (over 80MB), you will need to compress the file using an online compression tool (try searching for "compress mp3 online" - there's hundreds and thousands of different options you can use). 

Podcasts are revolutionising the future of digital marketing. Be at the forefront and get started today.

Ready to start your own podcast? Talk to us about our simple podcast tool - feel free to reach out to one of your internet marketing specialists on 1-844-448-6657 for more information, or book a consultation today.