8 Tips For Building Effective Podcast Ad Campaigns

[00:00:29]Heather Osgood: [00:00:29] Hello, and welcome to the Podcast Advertising Playbook. I'm your host, Heather Osgood. And for the past, at five, almost five and a half years, I have been working in the podcast space with podcasts and advertisers with really one main goal. And that is of creating effective podcast advertising campaigns.

[00:00:50] Now, as many people examine the podcast ad space, it is easy to become, I think, kind of a bit overwhelmed because there isn't necessarily [00:01:00] a proven method that is very well known about how to get effective results with podcast advertising. And in this podcast, the reason it's called the Podcast Advertising Playbook is that we strive to create content for you that will allow you to essentially have a play-by-play for how you can create effective campaigns in podcast advertising. 

[00:01:24] One of the questions that I often ask is how do I create effective campaigns in podcast advertising? And so, I wanted to dedicate this episode to walk you through all of the different steps that I recommend taking to create an effective campaign.

[00:01:43] Okay. Now, there are a lot of right decisions that you can make when you were creating your campaign. And on my list, I have about eight right choices that you can make that will ultimately lead you to success. 

[00:01:58] The first right decision that you [00:02:00] can make in creating effective ad campaigns is that you can select the right demographic. You, as an advertiser, know who is purchasing your products and services, and you must be reaching those listeners. If you're reaching the right demographic, you're much more likely to get results than if you're reaching the incorrect demographic. So it's important to know that. Now demographics can be a little bit challenging in the podcast space because, unfortunately, there isn't a standardization in looking at the demographics of a podcast.

[00:02:33] So you want to make sure that you're digging into where this demo information comes from? Did it come from a hosting provider? So, some shows have that information. Um, there are some partnerships out there. I know Nielsen is partnering with a megaphone to really provide a lot of very detailed demographic information.

[00:02:51] So, is it coming from that hosting provider? Is it coming from a survey? Is it from other audience information that maybe that show [00:03:00] has, but understanding the demographics are important? Now you're never going to know with a hundred percent certainty who is listening to that podcast. And of course, you can use anecdotal information about who the listener is, but understand the demographic and understand where that demo information came from, I think, is really important.

[00:03:21] Next, you want to make sure that you are choosing a host that has the ability to clearly, and passionately, and excitedly communicate the unique selling proposition of your product or service. Now, there are lots of different podcasts out there. There are lots of different genres; there are lots of different communication styles.

[00:03:43] If you're working with comedians and part of their shtick is to, you know, essentially be reverent toward their advertisers, that can work. In some cases, suppose you are working with a podcast that is maybe a meditation show [00:04:00] and, uh, maybe a, an anxiety show. We've we work with a few of those, where the host needs to speak softly and clearly, and maybe at a slower pace.

[00:04:09] That's fine; none of that really matters. If it is within that theme of that content, the way the ad is delivered is totally fine as long as the host can really communicate your unique selling proposition, more than anything, as long as they can communicate a passion and excitement for your product. That is the key to success has that host really be able to get behind your product. So, make sure that that's happening. 

[00:04:42] You also want to make sure that you were getting the right type of ad. Now, there are several different types of ads in the podcast space, and I've created quite a bit of content around those. So if you're interested, check out some of our other episodes to discuss the different types of ads and the podcast space. [00:05:00] But I wanted to, you know, highlight a couple.

[00:05:03] So there is definitely the difference between an embedded ad-read and a dynamically inserted ad-read. Okay. I do want to make the point, as I always do, that you can have a host read endorsement ad that can be either embedded or dynamically inserted. The difference is that if the ad is running in an embedded fashion, that means that it will be in one episode; it's going to reach the listeners of that one episode.

[00:05:28] And in most cases, it's going to be there indefinitely. If it's a dynamically inserted ad, that means it's going to go through the entire catalog, both current and back catalog, in most cases. But you're going to be reaching the full audience. So what you want to look at when creating a campaign are the reach and the frequency.

[00:05:46] How many people are you going to be reaching? And with what frequency are you going to be reaching those people? So those are essential key elements in both the embedded and the dynamically inserted campaign. [00:06:00] Now, with dynamically inserted campaigns, it's easier to get a higher frequency because your ad will be running for a period of time.

[00:06:06] Your ad might run, let's say, for a four-week period. Now the chances are that the podcast will have listeners who listen to more than one episode over that four-week period. So that means that you're going to hit that person multiple times. If you're running embedded ads, are you running one per month?

[00:06:24] Are you running four per month? Right? That's also going to really affect kind of that reach and that frequency number. So know that, know if it's going to be embedded? Know if it's going to be dynamically inserted. 

[00:06:37] Now, the other thing is, is it going to be a host-read endorsement ad? Spotify did this great research project. They just published an article about it. And they came out showing that the host-read endorsement ad is still more effective. Now Spotify is obviously selling programmatic ads, and while they were able to show that programmatically inserted ads can be effective and they [00:07:00] can. The host-read ad is still King. And you need to realize that host-read ads will move the needle more for you if you really want to get effective results. So now, is your ad going to be host read? Is it going to be producer-read, or will it be a pre-produced prerecorded ad that will then just be digitally inserted into podcasts? So that's very important.

[00:07:24]Assuming that you were going with the host-read ad, I would recommend that you want to make sure that your talking points will really deliver the information that the host needs to create a great ad-read for you. This means that you want to give them enough information so that they can talk about your product well. But not so much information that it's hard for them to pick out the key components. Now you, as a marketer, you as uh, you know, someone who is extremely proficient at your product, you know, what the ins and outs are.

[00:07:56] And you know, that you can go ahead and, [00:08:00] uh, deliver a message because you've done all kinds of research, you know, what resonates with your audience. So make sure that you're handing the host those talking points, right? Make sure you're handing them the sentences, maybe the phrases that will really speak volumes for your product.

[00:08:17] So making those talking points as, you know, thorough as possible, but as on-point as possible is going to allow the host to create a better ad-read for you. That will more clearly communicate what your product really is, which will get people excited to want to purchase it. 

[00:08:36] You have to have the right call to action. Suppose you are looking for a direct response. And in most cases, I would say advertisers in the podcast space are looking for direct responses. You have to make sure that your call-to-action is actually a call-to-action. Free shipping, 10% off, doesn't get too many people really excited to buy your [00:09:00] product.

[00:09:00]So, if you want to track how people are buying your products by using a specific offer, make sure that that offer is going to be compelling enough for someone to want to remember it. Because you always have to think about it, if you're using this offer to track your conversions if the offer isn't compelling enough, people will not take the time and the energy to remember it.

[00:09:26] One of the curses of audio is that I can't just easily click through onto your website and buy your product. That doesn't mean it's not effective. And that doesn't mean that it isn't a really great place to invest because there are tons of things that happened with audio that does not happen with other forms of media. But it can be more difficult to track conversions.

[00:09:51] That means that if you want someone to remember you and to remember the offer you've put out, they're going to have to do a little bit of work. [00:10:00] So not only are you asking them to purchase the product, you're asking them to do the work of remembering your company name, remembering the offer that you have, remembering where to get the unique URL, or the promo code.

[00:10:12] Now, of course, these elements should be on the podcaster's website. So make sure that you are asking your host to put it on their website. But it's still is a lot of work for the consumer. So you have to make sure that you're putting something out there that is compelling enough to get them to act. Very, very important.

[00:10:34] Next, if you want to experience success, you do have to track results. If you don't track results at the end of it, you're not going to know whether it was successful. Now, obviously, we've been talking about unique URLs, promo codes. Those are great ways to track results. Something that's been happening in the space for a long time.

[00:10:50] There is also the capability of doing attribution tracking. We know who has listened to a podcast by putting a tracking pixel on your website. You can see [00:11:00], who has made a purchasing decision. And in some cases, even run retargeting ads on social media to get in front of those people multiple times, because you know, we need those multiple impressions to get a buying decision made.

[00:11:14] So make sure that you're using some tracking mechanism and ask the person that you're buying the ads from how they can help you track those results because those are really important. 

[00:11:23] Last, you want to be able to analyze the data. You want to look through what you received from the campaign and evaluate where the success is and evaluate where the failures are.

[00:11:36] We know that not a hundred percent of advertising is effective all the time. We know that even with the best-laid plans, some of the ads will not work, right. You're not going to see the same return across the board for all podcasts you advertise on. And that's why you need to test and iterate.

[00:11:54] To look at results, to analyze results, and then constantly be [00:12:00] working to create those relationships with podcasts that you know are going to give you a return on your investment. 

[00:12:07] I hope that this episode has been helpful for you. And if you have any questions about podcast advertising, if you were a brand, if you were an advertiser, and you think that you would like to dip your toe into the podcast ad space, and you're just not sure where to start.

[00:12:23] If you're interested in host-read endorsement ads, we would love to help you. Head on over to truenativemedia.com. Reach out to us because we would love to chat, have a wonderful day, and we'll see you again next week on the podcast advertising playbook. Take care.