Do you listen to podcasts regularly? If the answer is no, you are part of a shrinking minority. Most Americans (and listeners in developed countries around the world) listen to podcasts at least occasionally, with many listeners tuning in to their favorite shows every day.
The massive popularity of podcasting has prompted millions of savvy marketers to try and tap the channel for marketing opportunities. Sometimes, they start podcasts on behalf of their business, interviewing industry people and talking about new products.
Other times, they use it as a content marketing channel to promote and popularize their collection of branded content.
Either way, the income potential is impressive, to say the least. Plus, with a large podcast listening audience, you can get millions of additional visitors to your site – and new fans for your brand.
But here’s the thing — podcasting is an environment that’s already saturated with hosts and content creators. And there’s no guarantee that podcasting will continue to grow over the past decade.
So is it too late to introduce podcasting as a marketing strategy for your startup?
Why podcasting?
Why podcasting? What makes this strategy so unique and desirable in the first place?
Ease of entry. The simplest podcasts are just casual conversations between two people who know each other. Even more complex setups are not particularly demanding. With any computer, a good microphone, and a little free time on your hand, you can create and upload your own podcast.
It lowers the cost and the barrier to entry is basically none. Because upside is so important, it makes the return on investment (ROI) potential for a podcast ridiculously good.
Potential audience size. Millions of people are listening to podcasts on a regular basis. If you can manage to tap even a small portion of those audiences, you’ll have a stronger audience to whom you can market your business.
Flexibility and subject possibilities. There really aren’t any rules about what you can and can’t do. Likewise, you are not limited by (for the most part) any terms or platform requirements.
This means that you can talk and do whatever you want.
potential scale. If you have a successful podcast and a loyal audience, you can scale up your efforts quickly without spending much money. You have the ability to snowball your audience from very small to very large without radically changing your core operations, which means you can make more money indefinitely without spending more.
Content diversification benefits. Podcasting is an excellent tool for content diversification. Content marketing strategies often focus on written content; This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you want to see better results and reach more people, it’s essential to incorporate mediums like video marketing, image development, and podcasting like audio streams.
Podcast networking and interviews. Podcasts are also beneficial because they make it easier to connect with other podcasters. If your show starts to get noticed, you may have the option of doing interviews with other known podcasters in your niche; The cross-marketing potential is virtually unlimited.
Connection to other channels. Most people don’t even podcast in a vacuum. As a marketing channel, podcasting can tie into almost any other marketing or advertising channel you can think of; It has tremendous synergy with written content, email marketing, social media marketing, and more.
Why “Too Late” Is a Concern
So why are people worried that it might be “too late” to get into the podcast game? Are these benefits about to end?
Absolutely not, but there are some serious dangers:
Podcasts as a fad. Podcasts have experienced a meteoric rise in popularity, rising from relatively obscure to the staple of modern existence. But, is this growth going to continue? Is it going to persist from here on out? Or was this explosive growth just a temporary fad? If the latter is true, podcasts could be in store for declining popularity in the near future.
Get up early Some podcasts benefited from staying ahead of the curve. Many of the most popular shows today are those that started before podcasts became a popular platform. Without the benefits of riding that initial wave of popularity, it can be hard to build a substantial audience.
established competition. There are millions of successful podcasts out there, and millions of unsuccessful and struggling ones. So if you want to earn customers’ trust and new business, you have to cut your work.
In addition, you will compete with people from all over the world, many of whom have more experience and a larger existing audience. From this point of view, the podcasting world is too saturated to be a proper marketing opportunity.
Marketing and consumer fatigue. Using podcasting for marketing and advertising can also be problematic. because marketing