Everybody Needs a Podcast: Atlanta HubSpot User Group 3/14/18 Recap
Matthew Bivens, long-time 98toGo partner and consultant, recently presented at the Atlanta HubSpot User Group on his core competency: podcasting. And while not everyone has the interest or resources for creating a podcast, Matthew busted a lot of myths around podcasting and revealed some creative but easy applications of podcasting.
One idea in particular stood out as relevant to marketing agency clients, especially content marketing clients sold on HubSpot and its core philosophies.
Podcasts as marketing
As marketers, we often see podcasting as a product that can be marketed or monetized with someone else’s advertising. But as Matthew made clear, podcasting can be an excellent channel for marketing itself. For example, inviting certain guests onto your podcast becomes a way to build relationships and trust, which can essentially “market” who you are and start a great business relationship.
You can also talk about your own products and services in your podcast. We’ve worked with clients whose podcasts provided enormous value the audience, and all they did to monetize their podcast was attach their brand to the show. Other marketing clients who podcasted went a step further, injecting a short testimonial advertisement about their product, just like they would do for a sponsor.
Do I market the marketing podcast?
The whole idea of using a podcast as marketing can be difficult to wrap your head around when podcasts typically have to be promoted in the first place.
It seems like there can be an extra barrier between you and your audience when you have to sell listeners on the idea of your podcast and then on the idea of your brand and products. You might ask: Why not just cut out the podcast and promote the brand and products right away?
There are several ways to slice this. One, using a podcast to market your brand can be much easier if you have a built-in audience already. For example, if you have ongoing clients for a subscription-based product, or an enormous and engaged newsletter list, those can become a built-in audience at launch. It will take minimal promotion to engage those listeners, but they’ll help boost your podcast’s popularity as early adopters.
They may also respond with higher retention, upsells, and referrals depending on the value of your podcast.
Plus, there’s nothing wrong with marketing your marketing. Consistent with the HubSpot inbound marketing methodology, you could think of your podcast as a premium piece of content. You could market your podcast with blogs, paid advertising, emails, social media, or anything else. The podcast then becomes a re-engagement piece, conversion prompt, or brand filter (or whatever marketing funnel step you need.)
In a world where only a small percentage of your audience will convert to customers right away, podcasts make an amazing piece of your marketing funnel that can actually fill multiple marketing gaps at once.
If you’re interested in learning more about podcasting and creating your own show, reach out directly to Matthew Bivens at his website. If you’re interested in other strategic marketing built around podcasting, feel free to reach out and ask us anything.
