Should My Company Make A Podcast?
We love a good branded podcast.
In fact, we make quite a few! But how do you know if your company should make one? Here are three questions to find out if producing a podcast makes sense for your company.
Why do you want to make a podcast?
Seems like an obvious question, but one we must ask: why does your company want to do this? Is it to engage your employees? Bring in new leads? Or is it just a fun thing you want to try to make your company seem cool (podcasts are the new ping pong, we hear)?
BMW started putting out serialized, fiction podcasts in 2020. One of which, HYPNOPOLIS, details the story of a woman who wakes up 30 years after she’s convincted of murder. Not exactly a sponsored ad!
It sounds odd that BMW, a car company, is investing in high production fiction podcasts. Though there are a few nods to BMW in the podcast, the story has almost nothing to do with buying a car.
BMW’s rationale for this “Netflix for the ears approach” is that nobody would listen to a podcast about cars from BMW. It’s too obvious, too boring and too sales-y. They simply want to connect with people in a more subtle way — and audio storytelling is a way to do that. The company is so serious about this approach that they even slashed budget from other marketing initiatives to create the fiction podcasts.
BMW has a history of investing in entertainment — like short films starring Clive freakin’ Owens! — to connect with customers and create a brand that is so much more than a car. So in a strange way, this totally aligns with their brand goals to be part of your lifestyle rather than just be your car manufacturer.
So what would a podcast do for your company? Even if it seems wildly out there for your company, does it align with the brand’s goals?
Who are you making this for?
Now that you know why you want to make this podcast, you can ask yourself: who is this for? Your employees? Possible clients? Your kids? (That actually sounds super fun, please hit us up if this is your audience).
Shopify is a master at creating podcasts for specific audiences. The company has created several podcasts since 2016 (it got into the game early), specifically to draw in new and existing customers.
Shopify’s first podcast, Thank God It's Monday (TGIM), targeted aspiring entrepreneurs by focusing on entrepreneurial success stories. This was before almost every business used Shopify as their ecommerce platform. The company still needed to bring new users onto the platform — and they used TGIM to do just that. Shopify was candid about using the podcast as a relationship builder with potential users. They figured that when these listeners do eventually start businesses, they’ll go to Shopify as a starting point because of their relationship to TGIM.
Shopify wasn’t wrong about this hypothesis. It turns out that 54 percent of podcast listeners consider buying a product they hear about on a podcast.
Shopify continues to use this strategy to build out its usership, albeit in a different way now that they’re the go-to ecommerce platform. They’ve retired TGIM and created Shopify Masters, a podcast about “actionable strategies and ecommerce marketing advice.” Shopify no longer needs to wow users, but to retain them. So they use their podcast to offer free advice on how to leverage Shopify to make your dreams come true.
What’s the point of making a podcast if no one listens? The audience question is one you can’t afford to miss.
What will it encourage people to do?
As a business, you need to ask yourself: what does the company get out of this? A BBC report showed that branded podcasts will increase awareness around a brand by 89 percent and increase purchase intent from that brand by 14 percent. So podcasts can be powerful! But you need to know how to wield that power.
In order to use a podcast as a business development or marketing tool, those bottom line goals need to be part of the podcast making process. So you need to know what that goal is to create a podcast that can make it happen.
When Xbox wanted to launch the new Halo 5 game, they decided to make a massive marketing campaign around the game. At the heart of the campaign? A podcast called Hunt the Truth, a mockumentary about the lore in the Halo franchise.
Not only did the podcast receive a Clio Award, which recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design and communication, but Halo 5 grossed $400 million in the first week - surpassing Halo 4 by $200 million. Just goes to show that good entertainment can drive serious results!
So what does your company want? And can a podcast make that happen?
We hope that you finished this article and discovered that your company would LOVE to make a podcast - and do it with us! Reach out to info@vocalfrystudios.com and let’s talk projects.
