Savvy marketers are always on the lookout for new media through which to promote their companies. From print media, to radio, to television, to the Internet, it hasn’t taken long historically between the development of a new media technology to the adoption of that media by marketers.
In an article for Entrepreneur, Aj Agrawal makes the case for podcasts as the next potentially lucrative marketing channel. While not really new, podcasts are making a comeback. “Commuters have traded in their playlists for podcasts, and consumers everywhere are tuning into online talk shows,” Agrawal writes. “In fact, some 24 percent of Americans over the age of 12 now listen to podcasts on a monthly basis; and Statista projects that, by 2021, there will be more than 100 million podcast listeners in the United States alone.”
Driving Forces
Two big driving forces behind the growth in popularity of podcasts cited by Agrawal are the rise in the use of mobile technology and the time crunch so many of us feel on a daily basis. For example, Agrawal notes that many search engines are even changing algorithms to give mobile priority. At the same time, while we as a nation have been feeling crunched for time for years, that trend seems to be continuing with no end in sight. Podcasts are much easier to consume on the go than reading a book or even reading or watching content on a smartphone.
Impact on Marketing
So what will be the impact of podcasts on marketing? Here, we differ a bit in our analysis from Agrawal. “With podcasts,” he writes, “there’s actually no need for a written blog post (although some blogs offer podcasts transcribed word for word).” He goes on to argue that: “podcasts are easier: Businesses can use them to put out high-quality, relevant content without the same effort and ability that writing requires. Podcasts inspire conversation, while blogs tend to provoke thought.”
While we certainly agree that podcasts are a great potential avenue for getting content out there, as with any new medium, they should be seen as a complement to, not a replacement of, existing tools. Just as television didn’t completely eliminate the radio, and the Internet didn’t completely replace television, podcasts aren’t likely to entirely supplant the online blog.
We simply have a wide array of options to choose from and should make the best strategic use possible, repurposing content for various media whenever possible to be most efficient and cost-effective.
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About Us
Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We are adept at evaluating and analyzing communication efforts and working with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content, through both on- and offline media to achieve desired results. Our background in business journalism, marketing, PR/media relations and online communications makes us well-positioned to serve the needs of 21st-century marketers.
We serve clients who are looking for help creating content for a wide array of channels—from social media posts to full-length manuscripts, and everything in between. We focus primarily on service-related B2B topics and work with a number of independent consultants interested in building their thought leadership through online channels. For ongoing content management, our first step is to fully understand your goals, objectives and competitive landscape.
Then we’ll conduct a thorough analysis and assessment of your digital presence, compared to competitors, and recommend a communication strategy to achieve your goals. But, we also regularly take on individual projects – white papers, blog posts, contributed articles, etc. If you’re interested in learning more, let us know!
(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)
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Tags: content marketing, Marketing, marketing media, mass media, podcasts