PODCAST ADVERTISING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Marketing is a vital and often overlooked part of expanding a small business. There are various forms of marketing, all focussed on selling a business, but today, we are tunneling our efforts into podcast advertising for a small business (with a small budget of + 5K.)
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SMALL BUSINESS AND LIMITED BUDGET
The amazing thing about podcast advertising is that no matter how big or small a budget is, brands can still sell on podcasts. It really begins with understanding the customer persona and then using that laser focus to maximize the small budget on a variety of shows. Sure, it takes more effort, but it will be worth every second spent.
A small business needs organic reach, combined with marketing efforts to really expand and thrive.
This is the approach that Blinkist, a start-up company, adopted and have had incredible deliverables since. We spent time with Sira Ruedeeniyomvuth, Partnership and Influencer Marketing Manager for Blinkist, on our Podcast, The Podcast Advertising Playbook.
During the episode, he shares with us how he leveraged podcast advertising for his small business to grow brand awareness and, ultimately, sales conversions. He also talks about the lessons he learned along the way and how he got creative with the limited budget.
WHY BLINKIST CHOSE PODCAST ADVERTISING
- Consumers who like to listen to podcasts would relate to their brand. They would be able to find their target audience fairly easily.
- As with any small business, building a digital footprint is vital to getting your brand in front of consumers. The bonus of the medium is that the brand/company also creates an audio footprint that lasts. The podcast episodes are available to the audience for years. If the company continues to monitor the completed campaigns, leaving the URL or promo code active, they will see the lag results coming in from shows up to a year after activation.
- Social Selling is moving more towards automation, but with podcasts, the human element is still very prominent and that is what makes it unique.
PODCAST ADVERTISING AGENCIES ARE USEFUL
- During the first year, Blinkist worked with a podcast advertising agency, similar to True Native Media. Their decision to go this route was based on several factors. Firstly, the company is originally based in Germany, however, a large portion of their users are US-based. Therefore, having support from an agency was important to connect the company to the correct podcasts.
- Secondly, Sira was not familiar with how a podcast campaign is run, so using the expertise of a podcast advertising agency to guide him in the right direction, reduced mistakes and unnecessary spending.
- Thirdly, the agency liaises with the host to make sure the ad reads are inline with the contract.
- They found that by using this tactic, they could stretch their small budget to have a bigger impact.
During the second year, Sira had the knowledge and results from testing the previous year, and used that to propel brand awareness over sale conversions. Continuous testing, never settling with one campaign, always revolving.
Campaign Tactics FOR Small BUSINESS
- They assess their campaigns buy doing 2-3 months of testing. After that, they scale results and review the campaigns to see what’s working or not. They audit conditions such as the activity of the various landing pages/promo codes/URLs, reviewing which work better than others. They also check which ad copies had greater engagement, and which podcasts had increased participation.
- When they create their custom landing pages, they have a template that they change for each show. One of the important features of the landing page is adding the host’s name and photograph so the consumer feels a sense of familiarity. this way they are more likely to click through. It’s also important to embed a lot of trials, discounts, or calls to action that are unique to the show. This way, tracking clicks, sign-ups, and purchases are easier.
- Most of the ads are baked-in (embedded) into the episode, and about 10% are dynamic insertions. They prefer it this way, as the baked-in ads have a long tail, driving more traffic to their business.
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how to effectively divide your small budget between podcasts
- Firstly, it’s crucial to create a balanced mix of different sized shows e.g. 50 shows in total, large, medium, and small. There is varying audience engagement on each, so you need that to even out the results. The larger shows will be more expensive, but with some creativity with the smaller shows, you can make it work.
- Secondly, buy one spot in each episode for four episodes, and then stagger the ads e.g. one week on and one week off. After that time period, digest the campaign results. The consumer takes more than one episode to be influenced enough to take action. Usually, 20% of the shows result in excellent return on spend; and that will cover the other 80% that didn’t. From there a deeper focus on the shows that worked is necessary to drive more return on spend.
final thoughts
- Before beginning the journey, create an action plan. Make sure the tracking operation is set up to capture results. Try to be where your audience is by using every advertising platform in conjunction with podcasts.
- Working with an agency has been more efficient and effective than trying to complete the process directly with podcast hosts. If a company is selling ads on a large number of podcasts, logistics can be very intricate time consuming and cost the company more in labor versus using the podcast advertising agency to liaise back and forth with the host.
If you enjoyed this article, you will also like : Is Podcast Advertising Influencer Marketing
Listen to the full episode
To help people integrate fresh and relevant ideas into their busy lives, Blinkist created a new format—the book-in-blinks. You get the key insights from a nonfiction book in just 15-minutes, in text or audio to fit the different parts of your day. It gives consumers an opportunity to expand into different genres without using valuable time.
True Native Media is True Native Media is an advertising agency that specializes in connecting brands with podcasters to develop engaging content hand-crafted for audiences around the globe.
Great article! I totally agree that podcasts can be a powerful tool for businesses to reach new customers. One thing that’s really helpful for my business is a reliable platform to manage our campaigns. We are currently using Podbean’s Podcast Advertising, and I can say that it’s a great way to connect with potential advertisers and even grow your revenue.