I’m not going to sugarcoat it: Creating a unique podcast in today’s saturated market is difficult – really difficult. But if you can do so effectively and creatively, the resulting success can truly change the way your business’s voice is projected and the way consumers view and interact with you.
A good case study of a strong corporate-made podcast is General Electric’s The Message. This eight-part sci-fi series, released in 2015, follows a fictional team of cryptologists as they attempt to decode an alien message from outer space. The podcast is the brainchild of GE’s in-house agency The Grid, their ad agency BBDO, and the podcast network Panoply. The medium of The Message opened a new way for GE to tell stories and speak to the public. GE’s global chief creative officer Andy Goldberg describes the podcast as a strategic approach to interaction with the same audience yet engaging in an entirely new way, giving listeners a different association with the company.
Thus was born GE Podcast Theater – a throwback homage to old school radio and General Electric Theater of the 1950s hosted by Ronald Reagan. During its eight-week run, the podcast had over 1.2 million downloads and reached No. 1 on iTunes podcast charts – talk about raging success.
Is a Podcast Right for You?
While GE’s success story is the cream of the crop as far as corporate engagement through podcasts, it might be unrealistic for your company to spend hours cooking up artfully crafted, customer-oriented episodes. Podcasts require a lot of effort, time, and commitment to keep up and keep engaging, especially today when it seems like everyone and their mother has one. How will you separate yourself from the crowd? If you’re feeling confident and creative, these considerations might help you determine if a podcast is the right move for your business.
- Filling the air
You should assume that each podcast episode will be at least 20 minutes, if not more. While that in itself might not be too scary, consider that you’ll want to keep podcast publishing reliable in order to grow and maintain a regular follower base. Once or twice weekly is a good basis for publishing episodes. I’d recommend committing to that schedule for at least 6 months, at a minimum. If you don’t have enough varied material to talk about that often, developing episodes can become more of a burdensome to-do than a valuable marketing addition.
- My next guest needs no introduction…
Whether or not your next guest actually does need an introduction, it’s important to have them on your show! Audiences would much rather hear multiple voices and viewpoints in conversation as opposed to a lengthy monologue. Make sure you can keep it varied, or at least relevant, with guest speakers from your company, the industry, etc. Not only do these other voices maintain interest, they also build approachability, an important aspect of the medium of podcasting.
- Build it and they will come…
… or at least we wish this were true. Building a reliable and committed audience following is no walk in the park. Audience trust is a bond built through analysis, insight, and storytelling. Make sure you have the budget and the time to put the work in to marketing, writing, planning, and editing to bring those podcast downloads rolling in.
Creative and innovative businesses with good journalistic abilities should not feel discouraged by the challenges of podcasting. The risk and energy investment can be well worth the significant rewards in community building, publicity and marketing, and customer engagement. Podcasts are having a moment, and you could be the next big player in the game.