Podcast Advertising: A Powerful, Often Overlooked Marketing Channel

If you are like most marketers, you are always looking for new, effective ways to reach your audience. And if you can find one your competition isn’t using yet, so much the better.

One often overlooked channel is podcast advertising. You don’t want to be among the marketers who don’t take advantage of this growing phenomenon.  Over 80 million people in the US listen to podcasts each week. That’s each week, not casual listeners. And these people are listening to an average of eight podcasts each and every week.

But how likely is that there is a podcast or two that would attract your  client’s audience? It would be amazing if there weren’t. There are over 2,000, 000 podcasts, and the numbers are climbing daily. It’s a sure bet that a significant part of your client’s audience is listening to some of them.

What is the Goal of Podcast Advertising?

People listening to podcasts don’t have links in front of them to click. Therefore, the primary use of podcast advertising is for brand awareness.

So, though you will not be able to include a clickable link, you might include an easy-to-remember phone number in your call to action if you want people to call you. This has been very successful for many marketers.

People often listen to podcasts when they are in transit and have the time to make phone calls. 80% of responders to a recent survey said they listen to podcasts while commuting.

What Kinds of Podcast Advertising Performs Best?

As with any kind of marketing, you are going to want to test what works best with your audience. You can devise and produce clever, scripted third-party ads and have them inserted later into the podcast.

Or you can just ask the podcast host to read an ad. Having the host read the ad is simpler. But it is also often more effective. After all, most of the people listening already know and presumable like the host. A host-read ad may be prerecorded or read live.

Another alternative is not to have a clear delineation between content and ad. If it makes sense, the host may be able to bring up your product organically. This is referred to as product placement. The host casually mentions your product in the course of the podcast. This is similar to watching a movie where you can plainly see the protagonist is using an Apple computer.

Where Is the Best Ad Placement for Podcast Advertising?

Instead of just running an ad, it’s also possible to fully sponsor a podcast. Talk to the podcast ad network to find out what options they make available.

But there are three basic placement possibilities, and they are pretty much self-explanatory:

• A Pre-Roll Ad is an ad placed before the podcast really begins.
• A Mid-Roll Ad is an ad placed during the podcast, usually near the middle.
• A Post-Roll Ad is an ad after the podcast has ended.

There are usually more people that listen to the beginning of a podcast (there will always be some who don’t make it past the beginning). This may make you think that a pre-roll ad is best, but keep in mind that it’s easy for people to skip over an ad placed at the beginning.

Mid-roll ads are harder for people to skip over. Also, the audience is already in listening mode by the time the ads come on. Mid-roll ads are more expensive than pre-roll or post-roll ads, but many marketers think the price difference is worth it.

If you have a call to action such as to call for more information, think about how ad placement may affect your listeners taking action. Test to see what works for you.

How Will I Be Charged for Podcast Advertising and Sponsorship?

Normally you will pay for Podcast sponsorships and advertising by CPM, that is a flat rate for every 1,000 impressions. Of course, what that rate is will vary by podcast.

Of course, as with all advertising, frequency and continuity is the name of the game. There is no sense in advertising once or twice. To achieve top of mind awareness, you must run an extended ad campaign. In other words, it’s far better to buy multiple ads on a small podcast than a single ad on a bigger, more expensive podcast.

But don’t just stick to one podcast. Look for a network that has multiple podcasts that will be of interest to your client’s audience and make a deal to place ads on more than one.

Test and Measure

 As with any advertising campaign, you will want to measure the success of your podcast advertising campaign. Pay attention to the number of listeners, the number of downloads and the amount of engagement.

Tools are available that enable you to measure traffic, demographic data and behavioral aspects. You can also use methods you use in other types of advertising such as promotional codes.

Is It Time to Reallocate My Clients’ Budgets to Include Podcast Advertising?

If you aren’t already advertising on podcasts for your clients, this is the year to start. Podcasts are more popular every year, and that shows no sign of slowing down. That’s why advertisers spent 21% more last year on podcasts (about  $590 million) than they did the year before. Podcasts are growing about 19% annually.

Call Umbrella Local for White Label Podcast Advertising

If you think you would like to explore podcast advertisng for your clients, you don’t have to do it yourself.  Contact Umbrella  and set up a free consultation to find out about reselling white label podcast advertising. We will be happy to answer your questions and help you to increase your clients’ reach and brand awareness through podcast advertising.