5 Facts about Podcasting

If you are building your brand and need to engage your audience with more useful content and build credibility, launch a professional podcast. I strongly believe in diversity of communication styles because if you increase the number of ways your brand message is communicated to the audience, the chances of interaction with brand will multiply; you will have less worry about sustainability. In case, you are not familiar with what a podcast really is, here is a brief description:

A podcast can be defined as an audio file that is made accessible on the internet for anyone to listen to (mostly subscribers). Podcasts were an invention intended for people who love to read but have no time for it. They started being more popular in the early 2000 and the best scenario for a podcast was listening to it while on your way to or from work. Unlike listening to radio stations which in most cases are real time, you can rewind, replay and save a podcast for future referencing.

Well you may do a video podcast as well if you believe you are a visual person and visual content is definitely more impactful. You may record it with your phone or a professional camera, depends on your resource availability and quality preferences of course. Once recorded, spend fair time in editing and improving the visual and sound quality as definitely this is your brand's image and quality will be the first thing your audience will notice. Remember to invite relevant industry experts to speak with you and share knowledge on your podcast. The more niche your podcast is the better response and engagement you will receive from your audience. As an entrepreneur I strongly believe in supporting other entrepreneurs by sharing my experiences. I have a new video podcast as well that brings in other entrepreneurs who have achieves a level of success and these guests share their stories in the episodes. I am a visual and kinesthetic person and have preferred a video podcast. My podcast is for spreading out tips and experience oriented knowledge to small and medium sized business owners. You may watch it under the title of MyStory4U on Youtube, here is the link.

How do podcasts work?

As defined earlier, a podcast is an audio file that is accessible on the internet for anyone to download or listen to. With this being said, a podcast works like TV series, but in audio format. It is a cheap and fast way of getting your message out there and building your audience over a period of time. Podcasts cover different topics in life as well as music, comedy and all types of topics. One just needs to get online and search for a podcast of their choice, download and subscribe for future podcasts.

5 facts about Podcasts

1)     7 billion users- Since 2013, podcast users have increased to more than 7 billion people all over the world. This simply means that people are using and listening to podcasts more.

2)     Marketing strategy – 63% of the people listening to podcasts bought something from the advertisements on podcasts. This has been an eye opener to small businesses who have taken up podcasts as a way to do marketing for their products.

3)     Great numbers – The number of podcasts has exponentially increased over the years since 2012 with statistics showing that podcasts are doubling in numbers with every coming year.

4)     Target market – Podcasts have reached an equal ratio of men to women all over the world and the age group of people listening to podcasts range from 18-54.

5)     Good following – 88% of podcast listeners listen to every episode and are good subscribers. This makes the podcast market one of the most tuned in platforms in the world.

 Benefits of podcasts

The benefits of podcasting for small business, individuals, companies and any other organizations are vast.

·        User friendly – Podcasts are user friendly and are updated from time to time. Once you have subscribed to the podcast, you will get the latest updates the podcast offers.

·        Cut costs – They cut down costs on printing, postage and other forms of communication since they are delivered digitally.

·        Personal touch – Podcasts have a more personal and intimate touch. The listener can get how passionate you are about a certain message from the way you deliver it through the podcast.

·        Portability – Podcasts are portable, you can listen to them in any digital device including but not limited to smart phones, ipods, laptops among others.

·        Time efficient – This means you can multitask while listening to your podcast while doing other things. This becomes convenient as it doesn’t necessarily need all your attention while listening.