It’s been a while since I switched to live broadcast radio stations. I prefer to connect my music playlist or podcasts depending on my mood. Last year Spotify catalogued over 5 million podcast shows on their platform. That’s more than Botswana’s population of over 2,5 million people, more than Namibia’s population of over 2,3 million – it’s A LOT!!
The conversation publication recognised 40 commercial radio stations and 284 community stations in South Africa . Supporting the relevance of radio.
Whilst radio is the go to for audio entertainment, there’s value in creating a brand podcast. In listening to a lot more radio lately, I landed on a station during a scandalous audio drama. An acoustic performance too captivating to turn off. Branded podcasts can create the same enchanting impact.
As marketers, we’re constantly bombarded with messages about video killing audio. Constantly encouraged to invest in more video elements. I’d like to contend that as long as you captivate your listeners with interesting, engaging stories, there’s still power in audio. If your budgets don’t comprise of long term investments in radio, your alternative is branded podcasting.
Is podcasting in your marketing & media mix?
Whilst radio still plays an important role in media spend, leveraging your owned media platforms gives you the capacity to be position thought leadership. I can drive visibility of the expansive product portfolios in a more seamless and strategic way. Cleverly incorporate several value propositions through well structured and interesting conversations.
And you can do it in a consistent rhythm, have more frequency and reach at a fraction of the cost of advertising.
If you consider podcasting as one of your owned media planning activities, take a feather from brands that have made it work despite the clutter. Fun fresh concepts have kept listeners coming for more. If you’re a B2B brand don’t let that limit you. Find novel and creative ways to educate and inspire listeners.
Maybe as your podcast grows you could use it as a self-funding channel. Podcast revenue growth in South Africa is showing steady growth. Podcast Ad revenue is projected at over $6.5M in 2024, small but promising.
Key Considerations before launching branded podcasts
Have a clear purpose and key message for the podcast. Get buy in from the top and build consensus from the whole business to unify expectations, especially from subject matter experts.
- Be authentic and don’t be afraid to drive brand value
- Plan a sustainable long-term content calendar. Like any other content creation process, you need to make a commitment to a delivery rhythmically. Have clear topic focus & outlines, know your audience‘s interests and habits. Bring in different voices to tell the story and unpack the topic in an effective and impactful way. People become fans, so be consistent in your delivery.
- Do proper, balanced research, a lot of people use podcasts as part of their purchase decision journey. Minimise mumbo jumbo and propaganda.
- Be creative, don’t limit yourself to the standard Q & A interview format, there’s so much more out there, so many ways to tell a story. Read the list of brands that got it right in the feather link above.
- Don’t lose steam, it’s a journey not a race
- What does success look like? Be clear of what you’re measuring:
- Is it share of voice (SOV)?
- Message recall/ message pull through?
- Repeat listeners?
- Number of listeners?
- What’s the benchmark?
- Don’t forget to promote the show. You can use your owned social channels, partner socials, similar podcast audience cross promotion barter/affiliate deals. People need to know you exist, so promote, promote, promote.
How to pivot from event to podcast
The empathy project started off in Durban as an intimate wine & coffee gathering of curious minds sharing conversations over social & current affairs that impacted their lifestyles. This dialogue ranged from modern life, love, politics, work, identity ,etc. It’s an expansive platform driven by the dynamic nature of how life shapes us.
Modern day distractions affect us differently, so because of the different topics at each event, the event attracted 80% of new guests. Essentially the empathy project is about fostering empathy across humanity’s diverse challenges. They confront gender, race & workplace issues to help navigate what in many cases can severely impact people.
Discussing the process & sustainability of the project with Whitney Cele, the founder, event curator and show host of the empathy project podcast, I asked how she chooses her topics and what triggered the pivot from offline to digital.
Firstly, she wanted to include the friends that couldn’t physically attend the events yet they felt compelled to weigh in on the topics. Secondly, in these tough economic times – venue hire and the monumental other costs needed to manage a strongly curated and cultivated event became, well, expensive. So she took the pervasive route of digital conversations. The issues that she’s been concerned about still matter, so why not spread the discourse online.
Set up
The empathy project podcast is delivered through the Spotify platform. They have a vast support system that helps creators decide which elements would drive a successful podcast launch. They cover equipment, marketing, networking and share audience insights that can help you deliver a well structured, relevant and insight led podcast.
Leverage their data rich resources to help you stay relevant and ignite your podcast.
Marketing & promotion
Whitney uses her social media to deliver new show conversations. Starting with her owned channels and partnering with her network to share the episodes. She’s also currently exploring WhatsApp, curious to see how this channel could amplify her community activities through their new channel communities feature.
Content Plan
Lucky for her, she has 18 months worth of offline topic discussions from the curated events. She’s repurposing and reimagining them for digital consumption.
Because she covers social issues and her aim is to foster empathy, it’s hard to imagine her ever running out of things to talk about. Maybe one day when the world becomes kinder and more considerate, she can find cat or dog stories to talk about. 🙂
Podcast Covers
Despite some of the topics being about some unpleasantries caused by human imperfections, her podcast covers are always fun & refreshing. She has a different cover for every new topic on her show, uncommon and unexpected.
As you build your podcast, consider the visual communication elements that will draw enough attention & curiosity to grow listenership.
The best thing to do with this marketing tool, is to jump right in and get better over time. So go for it. And if you need a little help with execution, let’s talk
It’s been a while since I switched to live broadcast radio stations. I prefer to connect my music playlist or podcasts depending on my mood. Last year Spotify catalogued over 5 million podcast shows on their platform. That’s more than Botswana’s population of over 2,5 million people, more than Namibia’s population of over 2,3 million – it’s A LOT!!
The conversation publication recognised 40 commercial radio stations and 284 community stations in South Africa . Supporting the relevance of radio.
Whilst radio is the go to for audio entertainment, there’s value in creating a brand podcast. In listening to a lot more radio lately, I landed on a station during a scandalous audio drama. An acoustic performance too captivating to turn off. Branded podcasts can create the same enchanting impact.
As marketers, we’re constantly bombarded with messages about video killing audio. Constantly encouraged to invest in more video elements. I’d like to contend that as long as you captivate your listeners with interesting, engaging stories, there’s still power in audio. If your budgets don’t comprise of long term investments in radio, your alternative is branded podcasting.
Is podcasting in your marketing & media mix?
Whilst radio still plays an important role in media spend, leveraging your owned media platforms gives you the capacity to be position thought leadership. I can drive visibility of the expansive product portfolios in a more seamless and strategic way. Cleverly incorporate several value propositions through well structured and interesting conversations.
And you can do it in a consistent rhythm, have more frequency and reach at a fraction of the cost of advertising.
If you consider podcasting as one of your owned media planning activities, take a feather from brands that have made it work despite the clutter. Fun fresh concepts have kept listeners coming for more. If you’re a B2B brand don’t let that limit you. Find novel and creative ways to educate and inspire listeners.
Maybe as your podcast grows you could use it as a self-funding channel. Podcast revenue growth in South Africa is showing steady growth. Podcast Ad revenue is projected at over $6.5M in 2024, small but promising.
Key Considerations before launching branded podcasts
Have a clear purpose and key message for the podcast. Get buy in from the top and build consensus from the whole business to unify expectations, especially from subject matter experts.
- Be authentic and don’t be afraid to drive brand value
- Plan a sustainable long-term content calendar. Like any other content creation process, you need to make a commitment to a delivery rhythmically. Have clear topic focus & outlines, know your audience‘s interests and habits. Bring in different voices to tell the story and unpack the topic in an effective and impactful way. People become fans, so be consistent in your delivery.
- Do proper, balanced research, a lot of people use podcasts as part of their purchase decision journey. Minimise mumbo jumbo and propaganda.
- Be creative, don’t limit yourself to the standard Q & A interview format, there’s so much more out there, so many ways to tell a story. Read the list of brands that got it right in the feather link above.
- Don’t lose steam, it’s a journey not a race
- What does success look like? Be clear of what you’re measuring:
- Is it share of voice (SOV)?
- Message recall/ message pull through?
- Repeat listeners?
- Number of listeners?
- What’s the benchmark?
- Don’t forget to promote the show. You can use your owned social channels, partner socials, similar podcast audience cross promotion barter/affiliate deals. People need to know you exist, so promote, promote, promote.
How to pivot from event to podcast
The empathy project started off in Durban as an intimate wine & coffee gathering of curious minds sharing conversations over social & current affairs that impacted their lifestyles. This dialogue ranged from modern life, love, politics, work, identity ,etc. It’s an expansive platform driven by the dynamic nature of how life shapes us.
Modern day distractions affect us differently, so because of the different topics at each event, the event attracted 80% of new guests. Essentially the empathy project is about fostering empathy across humanity’s diverse challenges. They confront gender, race & workplace issues to help navigate what in many cases can severely impact people.
Discussing the process & sustainability of the project with Whitney Cele, the founder, event curator and show host of the empathy project podcast, I asked how she chooses her topics and what triggered the pivot from offline to digital.
Firstly, she wanted to include the friends that couldn’t physically attend the events yet they felt compelled to weigh in on the topics. Secondly, in these tough economic times – venue hire and the monumental other costs needed to manage a strongly curated and cultivated event became, well, expensive. So she took the pervasive route of digital conversations. The issues that she’s been concerned about still matter, so why not spread the discourse online.
Set up
The empathy project podcast is delivered through the Spotify platform. They have a vast support system that helps creators decide which elements would drive a successful podcast launch. They cover equipment, marketing, networking and share audience insights that can help you deliver a well structured, relevant and insight led podcast.
Leverage their data rich resources to help you stay relevant and ignite your podcast.
Marketing & promotion
Whitney uses her social media to deliver new show conversations. Starting with her owned channels and partnering with her network to share the episodes. She’s also currently exploring WhatsApp, curious to see how this channel could amplify her community activities through their new channel communities feature.
Content Plan
Lucky for her, she has 18 months worth of offline topic discussions from the curated events. She’s repurposing and reimagining them for digital consumption.
Because she covers social issues and her aim is to foster empathy, it’s hard to imagine her ever running out of things to talk about. Maybe one day when the world becomes kinder and more considerate, she can find cat or dog stories to talk about. 🙂
Podcast Covers
Despite some of the topics being about some unpleasantries caused by human imperfections, her podcast covers are always fun & refreshing. She has a different cover for every new topic on her show, uncommon and unexpected.
As you build your podcast, consider the visual communication elements that will draw enough attention & curiosity to grow listenership.
The best thing to do with this marketing tool, is to jump right in and get better over time. So go for it. And if you need a little help with execution, let’s talk