4 Reasons Why Marketers Are Migrating To Podcast Ads

This transcript is unedited.

[00:00:29]Heather Osgood: [00:00:29] Hello and welcome to the podcast advertising playbook. I'm your host, Heather Osgood. And today program we are going to be talking about why you should include podcast advertising in your 2021 marketing plan. So I'm recording this at the beginning of November. This will be coming out very soon and many marketers out there are working on their 20, 21 strategies.

[00:00:54] It has been a crazy year, all the way around so many different things have [00:01:00] happened. And I know that a lot of marketers have had some hesitancy, really trying to decide what they want to put in action for their 20, 21 plan. And so I'm here to help kind of nudge you in the direction of podcast advertising.

[00:01:15] The first reason why I think that you should consider podcast advertising in next year's plan is the power of the endorsement. So we know that 79% of B2B marketers believe that influencer marketing will grow in importance over the next 12 months, based on a study that we have found. So we know influencer marketing is a huge piece of the pie and that is in the B2B space, but of course, in the B2C space as well. So influencer marketing is really huge.

[00:01:49] The other thing that I think people should consider is that 79% of podcast listeners say that they don't mind podcast ads. Why is that? Do any of us love ads? [00:02:00] I, for one don't and I think it's kind of funny since I'm an advertising, right. But even if we're in advertising, that doesn't mean that we love ad messages.

[00:02:09] However, when that message is a message that has been curated for a listenership, when that is a message that is host read, when it's an endorsement, we all liked by products and services. And when that message is host read, when it's an endorsement, there is a ton of power behind that. So I want you to think about the power of the endorsement.

[00:02:32] When you think about getting people out there to talk about your product. When you think about the power of word of mouth marketing, that is exactly what the host read podcast ad can deliver. That is one of the most important features about podcast advertising. And it's one of the reasons why I think you should really include podcast advertising in your plan.

[00:02:54] Next, I want to talk about the lack of ad clutter in podcast advertising [00:03:00] are all podcast clutter-free? No, we certainly have shows out there a couple that come to mind are Tim Ferriss and maybe Joe Rogan. And you know, some of the bigger shows where they lined those advertisers up one right after another. And they have lots of ad messages.

[00:03:19] However, the vast majority of podcasts do not have a ton of ad messages in them. Especially when you look at shows that are in the mid range. You can get some really nice sizeable shows that reach really strong audience that do not have a ton of different ad messages in them.

[00:03:42] One of the things that I find really fascinating about podcasters in general is that they have grown their audience through their own blood, sweat, and tears through their time and their energy. And they don't want to do anything to dissuade someone from listening to their [00:04:00] podcast. And that's why so often podcasters will actually turn down advertisers because when an advertiser comes to them, if they don't feel like it's something that is going to resonate with their audience, then they don't take that advertiser on. And they also really are conscientious about the number of ads that they're placing in a podcast.

[00:04:21] Because we know that if you stack those ads up, you're going to decrease your listenership. Right? So most often at True Native Media, what we see. Is that there are typically two, maybe three mid-roll ad placements, and then maybe a pre-roll. We don't usually sell post rolls. But those are an option in some cases. But really, you know, you're talking maybe three to four ad reads in a 20, 30 minute or hour long program. So, you know, it's really important for us to  look at the fact that there are lots of podcasts out there that have very low ad clutter. And if you're trying to stand out, when we look at the different forms of [00:05:00] advertising out there, we know that there is so much ad clutter everywhere.

[00:05:04] But there is not that same ad clutter in podcast. So I want you to consider that.

[00:05:09] Next, really think about the minimal production costs and an easy add changes. So if you are looking at trying to stretch your budget, what happens if you strip out some of that production fee and the production costs? That are involved in lots of other sorts of mediums, right?

[00:05:27] There is no production costs with podcast    advertising. When we're talking about a host read endorsement ad, we really simply only need talking points for that ad. We need you to give us what that unique selling proposition of your company is so that the host can clearly communicate that to their audience.

[00:05:44] And then we need you to tell us why we want to make this important to the audience for the host. And the host does all this personalization. Right? The other thing is that we can make easy ad changes. Now I know in my radio days, it was pretty easy to switch out an [00:06:00] ad message. Sometimes we could do it even in a day.

[00:06:02] It's not that quick in podcast advertising. Sometimes it can take a week, two weeks, but in two weeks you can easily make an ad change. So if you want to minimize production costs for your advertising, and if you'd like to, you know, set a strategy where maybe you are going to be changing out your copy on a frequent basis, you can do that with podcast advertising.

[00:06:24] I think it's important when you're looking at your 2021 plan for you to think about diversifying your ad spend. I talked to advertisers all the time that are struggling because they're investing so heavily in Google Ads. They're investing so heavily in social. And it really is just getting them in this place where they're kind of stagnating because they're not paying, they're not seeing the same returns from their paid social that they had been seeing.

[00:06:54] They're finding maybe some of their ad words are more costly than they had been. Maybe they're not [00:07:00] getting the rankings that they once had. The other thing is. Oh my gosh. Talk about clutter. There are so many, you know, times when I go on to search something and I'm like, goodness, Google, can you just give me one organic mentioned here, you know. I don't really want an entire page of ads, but that happens more and more with paid search as well. So if you are thinking that you would like to diversify your ad planning for 2021 podcast are really good way to go about adding that diversification in because oftentimes, especially if you already have an influencer strategy, podcasts can come in, they can be interjected into your plan in a very seamless way.

[00:07:41] So think about diversification because if the methods that you have been using are not producing as well as they had, now could be the time to try something new. So I want to encourage you to think about diversifying your ad, spend.

[00:07:56] The last point is that I think that it's super important for [00:08:00] you as a marketer to be on the right side of innovation. The podcast industry is going bonkers this year, despite the pandemic. Despite the fact that we're not hitting our originally projected numbers in terms of ad sales for 2020, we are still projected to hit 1 billion in ad sales in 2021. Today as a matter of fact, the day that I am recording this podcast episode, Spotify has just announced that they are going to be acquiring megaphone for $235 million.

[00:08:33] Spotify is doubling down in the podcast space in a big way, and they are not the only company. There are lots of companies out there that are seeing the power of podcasts and podcast advertising. And now is the time for you as a marketer to think about your knowledge and your expertise in podcasts. If you want to be on the cutting edge of what is happening in the advertising space, you [00:09:00] cannot neglect podcasts.

[00:09:01] You need to educate yourself about how they work, how they can be effective, and how your company can really capitalize on the power of podcast advertising.

[00:09:12] So I hope that I have given you just a few tips and ideas, thoughts, processes that maybe you will consider podcast advertising in your 2021 plan.

[00:09:23] It is certainly not too late. There are still lots and lots of companies that are out there strategizing and planning to make a decision about how they're going to make 2021 a great year. Because I think we're all ready for that aren't we? Don't we just want a great year in 2021

[00:09:39]Thank you so much for being with me today. If you're interested in learning more about podcast advertising, I'd love to speak with you. You can reach out to us truenativemedia.com. You can also find me over at LinkedIn. I am there and I am active. I love to go on LinkedIn and provide as many bits of information as I can. [00:10:00] On Wednesday, you can check out my LinkedIn live at 10:00 AM pacific standard time. So I hope that you will join me for all of those wonderful things. And we'd love to speak with you more about podcast advertising. Thanks so much for tuning in for today's short and sweet program. And I'll talk to you again next week.

[00:10:17] Take care.

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