Why Podcasting Works: How 3 Companies Accomplished Their Marketing Goals Through Podcasting

Gone are the days when podcasting was only used for entertainment purposes. As competition in today’s marketplace is becoming fiercer than ever, more and more businesses are jumping on the podcasting bandwagon as part of their content marketing strategy to generate more leads and increase their revenue.

If you have been on the fence on whether podcasting works, and if you should start podcasting for your business, here are three companies that have been reaping the benefits of using a podcast in their marketing strategy.

1. Provide high-quality content on the go

Podcasting allows you to provide more in-depth content to your target audience. The average person speaks anywhere between 125 and 150 words per minute. That means that for a 10-minute podcast, you’re able to share as much as 1,500 words worth of valuable information to your audience. Moreover, since listening to a podcast is less demanding in terms of time and effort than reading a blog post, your target audience can tune in even during commutes or while at work.

This was the case with the Medicare and retirement division of the United Health Group. Their salespeople are so busy that they can’t find the time to read through their newsletter. As a result, most of the members of their sales team are not aware of the updates, tools, and ideas the division shares with them.

From there, the organization began looking into using podcasts as an alternative for their newsletters. However, since communication within the healthcare industry is heavily regulated, the company’s communication department first consulted with their lawyers if creating a podcast would be okay. Once they got the all clear, they began producing podcasts lasting between 10 to 15 minutes long.

Within the release of the first few episodes, the podcast received over 7,000 listens. They also received positive feedback from their sales leaders and agents who are now able to stay updated by listening to the podcast in between client meetings.

2. Increase website traffic

When Pat Flynn released his first episode for his podcast titled The Smart Passive Income Podcast back in 2010, he already had a significant blog following. After that first episode however, he almost immediately noticed a dramatic increase in his website traffic.

In an interview with Social Media Examiner, Flynn pointed out that he started noticing an increase in the number of emails he received from people telling him how they found him through his podcast.

Back then, it was difficult for him to gauge how much of his website traffic came from his podcast because there was no link for visitors to click, To solve his dilemma, he decided to run a survey on his blog to find out how many found him through his podcast. Out of the over 1,700 people that responded to the survey, 19% said they found him through his podcast on iTunes.

Today, Pat Flynn is one of the household names in the podcasting industry with his latest podcast already receiving over 33 million downloads within four days of it being published.

3. Generate more revenue

Despite being already a leader in the publishing industry, the people at Penguin Random House understand that times are changing. With 42 million Americans listening to a podcast each week, they saw podcasting as an opportunity to reach a broader audience to promote their audiobooks and increase their revenue.

They developed their podcast which was aptly named The Penguin Podcast, to focus on interviews with featured authors. The goal was to allow their audience to get into the minds of top-ranking authors and to see their world through their eyes and words. During each podcast episode, the guest author will share five things that inspired them to write and record their latest book.

Eventually, The Penguin Podcast helped make the audiobook division the fastest growing department of the company with six out of ten podcast listeners saying they are more likely to listen and download an audiobook they will publish.

Now, over to you.

Have you tried using podcasting as part of your company’s content marketing strategy? If not, what is the one thing that is stopping you? Share it with us in the comments below.

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