This One Thing Sets Podcast Advertising Apart From Other Marketing Channels

This transcript has not been edited

[00:00:28]Heather Osgood: [00:00:28] Hello, and welcome to the podcast, advertising playbook. I'm your host. And on the show today, I wanted to talk about what differentiates podcast advertising and podcasts in general, from other forms of media, I was in a meeting with a perspective agency today that handles a lots of different forms of advertising.

[00:00:47] A lot of social media, a lot of influencer marketing. And one of the questions that they had for me is, what makes podcast advertising different? And so I wanted to take just a minute and talk about why [00:01:00] podcast advertising is so different. What's important about podcast advertising and why we really should hold on to the uniqueness and the differentiators in podcast advertising.

[00:01:11] So first I think one of the most important pieces of podcasts listening in general is time spent and engagement. When I think about other forms of media, especially social media, I always think of it as such a passive activity.

[00:01:28] Now, granted, of course it is intentional from the perspective of I've just picked up my phone. I have opted to look at my social media app. I have gone on to YouTube. I've taken whatever action it is I need to take in order to engage with that platform. But how often do all of us go on auto pilot? When we get on social media, I feel like it's just a knee-jerk reaction thing. We get on social media and we don't maybe intend for, to go on [00:02:00] autopilot and to become comatose for an hour, but it happens right.

[00:02:03] We open our Instagram, we open our Facebook, we start scrolling and suddenly we're looking at random things. We're looking at random posts and yes, of course we have a curated feed from the perspective of we are following the people that we want to follow. We are interacting with the posts that we want to interact with, but oftentimes, especially when it comes to ads, I find myself looking at things or scrolling through things and it is very unintentional.

[00:02:32] I am not engaged in what's happening and I haven't been headed to that place specifically, right? It just is a very kind of lead you down this different path.  It's a very unintentional activity.

[00:02:48] When we think about podcasts listening, it is very different. Now, granted, there are a very select group of places where you can listen to streaming podcasts and you could just put it on and a [00:03:00] podcast will play at random.

[00:03:00]But the bulk of podcast listening happens with a ton of intention. So if you're wanting to listen to a podcast, I always like to walk people through the steps. You can't just listen to a podcast, right? You can't just get on social media either. You need to have the app. You need to have an account, but once you've done it once it's installed, once it's super easy with social media, with podcasts, you have to have the app to listen to the podcast. You have to decide which podcasts you're going to listen to out of the 1.6 million podcasts out there. Then you have to decide which episode you want to listen to and you have to listen, right?

[00:03:37] So it's a very engaged, very intentional activity. And I think what is so important for us to realize is that people don't typically just stumble upon a podcast. You don't just say, gosh, how did I start listening to this podcast? Just start applying. I have no idea. Or what happened or how I got here. We want to listen to [00:04:00] that show and I think it's so important for us to look at it because if you are reaching a person that is intentional and is engaged in content, they are going to be potential customers at a different level than someone who is just getting random messages.

[00:04:18] So when we're on social media, We get random messages all the time, whether that's somebody that's posted a message, whether that's an ad that's running, we have these different messages that come at us and nothing wrong with social media advertising.

[00:04:33] Obviously it's extremely effective, but when we look at how intentional and how engaged that listener is on podcast. They are going to be more receptive to ads because they have chosen to be there. They have chosen to listen to that host. And one of the things I always find really fascinating about podcasts is there are a lot of random people who podcast, right?

[00:05:00] [00:04:59] We've got a lot of random hosts out there. Some of them are superstars, but by and large, most podcasters out there are just every day individuals, right? Most people don't even podcast for a living. They just created a podcast cause they're really passionate and they want to share their knowledge with people.

[00:05:16] So we're following these people who have all of this knowledge, all of this information, all of this passion and expertise.  We listened to the podcast because we like that person. And then when that person comes to us with an ad message, that's a host read endorsement ad. It's going to have a lot of weight and a lot of power.

[00:05:38] The other thing that I think is really fascinating about podcasts is the time spent listening. It's huge. It's over 30 minutes, right? The average person is listening to a ton of podcast time when we stack it up or when we compare it to other forms of media. When you look at social media, it is just [00:06:00] seconds that people spend engaging with content on social media.

[00:06:03] And when you look at YouTube or video, it's in the low minutes. But when you look at podcasts, it's over 30 minutes of listening, which is amazing. So you've got this audience that has been intentional, that is engaged and is spending a lot of time listening to your content. And that is why podcasts advertising is so effective.

[00:06:23] We coupled that with the host read ad and suddenly you can get a lot of return on your investment with podcast advertising. So as I told the prospect that I was meeting with today, This is why podcast advertising is so effective and this is what differentiates podcast advertising from all other forms of marketing out there.

[00:06:42] So I hope that this has been interesting for you to think about. I know it's just a nice, quick, short episode for you today, but just a little bit of food for thought about why podcast advertising is different and why it's so important and valuable for you. If you're interested in learning more about podcast advertising, you can find us at [00:07:00] truenativemedia.com.

[00:07:01] And I will see you again, back here on the show. Take care.

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