Podcast: Talking About The Brand Generates Leads Of Value

Tell yourself to generate qualified leads.

The dream of all companies? Tell yourself to generate qualified leads. And thus, having a direct relationship with your customers, an intimate relationship to maximize the presentation of the products and the recognition of the brand. Because, as they say, with the “podcast: telling the brand generates leads.” Utopia? But that’s exactly how it is: the podcast is a story that generates leads. And its use in marketing spreads, transforming it into one of the major trends in communication.

The technical definition of podcast reads original audio content, available for download or streaming on any device, with a journalistic, educational or narrative approach.

Simplifying: the podcast is an audio story, usually part of a serial project, integrated into articulated storytelling. And this can be a narrative, a novel to listen to, or aimed at presenting products or services. In this case, we are talking about branded podcasts, i.e., podcasts designed and created by companies to tell their stories. 

Podcasts reach potential leads everywhere.

Why do companies like podcasts so much? Because they allow you to reach your niche effectively. 

A 2019 BBC study showed that branded podcasts have opened up a new space for dialogue between brands and consumers precisely because they can be listened to at times chosen by the users. 

94% of listeners say they enjoy podcasting more than any other form of communication because they can listen to it while doing other things. 

Quality for a compelling marketing mix

Moments in which the listener lowers his defenses (he does not “fear” the commercial break as when listening to the radio) and proves to be more involved (+18%), more emotionally open (+40%), and able to memorize more what he hears (+22%).

Let’s begin to understand why more and more listeners love and listen to podcasts: because more and more people don’t appreciate invasive advertising but want to enjoy quality content freely, without interruptions.

Indeed, first of all, podcasts are content of a high-quality level. The script, narration, soundproofing, music: everything is extremely well thought out, pleasant, and interesting. Then, as mentioned, they can be listened to anywhere and at any time: it’s not the radio broadcast that is a fixed appointment at a precise time (even if everyone now streams it on demand).

The podcast was born as a product/project in itself, with a life of its own and with precise narrative objectives that can be effectively part of an overall marketing mix strategy.

Telling about the brand generates leads

In the case of podcasts, creativity can really take great liberties because the oral story is a component that, on the one hand, can be able to say anything; on the other, it has an inimitable ancestral charm that attracts the listener’s attention by involving him in emotion deeper.

What can you do with a podcast? The first answer is to attract new prospects thanks to a brand new narrative. Or products or services can be launched and made known in an original way, improving brand perception and offering a new perspective on institutional messages or product lines. 

Last but not least, the podcast can stimulate the birth of communities of listeners, who can become brand ambassadors themselves.

Podcast: a great opportunity for companies

Even Google, in fact, has realized the power of the podcast and their growth performance: since 2019, the contents of the podcasts have been indexed in search of the SERP (search engine result page). This also amplifies their visibility through branded content included in the various podcasts published on multiple platforms: Spreaker, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Brands and companies have a great opportunity ahead of them: since, at the moment, the context is still relatively uncrowded, they have the opportunity to generate more traffic on their channels and, at the same time, collect useful information on listener profiles and habits.

All this makes us understand that the podcast, therefore, offers a particularly interesting perspective for companies: because it can represent an authoritative insight into corporate values, the history of the brand, and its products, making available to the listener an unprecedented perspective on the identity of the company and its brand.

30% of Italians listen to podcasts

So they are excellent tools to increase and consolidate customer loyalty and approach new prospects in intimacy and exclusivity. Furthermore, their flexibility makes them suitable for inclusion in an articulated content strategy.

In the last year, also due to Covid,  the number of podcast listeners in Italy has grown by a good four percentage points, going from 26% to 30% of the population between 16 and 60 years old.  

We are therefore talking about a far from marginal “niche” whose importance is growing and increasingly significant given its transversal nature.

Podcasts: Great for branding

The fact that we need to reflect on this is that the podcast, precisely because of its flexibility, should not be forced into B2C communication and promotion tools. 

Its ability to attract attention, develop insights, and create community projects is among the most performing B2B tools. 

In order to establish partnerships or to open commercial relationships,  companies need a highly significant narration of reliability and quality. And this podcast offers it masterfully.

Citing the recent BBC research again: it reports how brand mentions during the podcast offer +16% greater engagement and +12% memory encoding compared to surrounding content. What does it mean? That the name of a brand mentioned in the middle of a podcast narrative is much more ” visible ” and memorized than the rest of the things being told. Just to give a measure: on the radio, the mention of a brand is less than 5% compared to the narrative content in which it is immersed.

The podcast, therefore, creates engagement with a driving effect on other brand expressions metrics such as increased awareness (+89%), consideration (+57%), preference (+24%), and purchase intention (+14% ). So: does telling the brand to generate leads? It seems so, and they are valuable leads. 

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