When’s the last time you saw a billboard, TV commercial, or heard a radio ad that triggered your urge to make a purchase? Odds are, it’s been quite a while (if ever).
Traditional media was once the center focus of society—it shaped various perceptions and habits of people. For instance, community culture, political views, and even buying patterns.
But now fewer people are watching TV and listening to radio. In fact, we find that in 2015, 18 to 49-year-olds spent 4% less time watching TV and 74% more time watching YouTube videos. This also holds true now (during the pandemic)—during Q1 of 2020, the same group spent even less time watching TV than the previous year.
And with the rise of podcasts and music streaming, it’s no surprise we see similar habits with folks moving away from traditional radio. We even see B2B markets affected by the digital shift—more people are consuming branded content online.
So let’s take a closer look at how digital is taking over how people consume media.
The Rise of Digital Media
What makes digital the bombshell of all media is that it provides flexibility to the consumer. For instance, rather than sitting around hoping your favorite songs come on the radio, you can create a playlist using a music streaming platform.
Then if you hate commercials and ads (like most people do), you can stream videos on YouTube and Netflix without them (or set up an ad blocker).
Digital media also does something traditional media couldn’t—enable brands to create and share their content (freely without restrictions or insanely high costs).
It just so happens that 84% of people expect brands to create content. What traditional media do you know that enables folks to engage with brands?
People (including business folks) are looking for storytelling, useful solutions, and entertaining experiences. Digital media provides this through multiple mediums, including social media, online video, and B2B podcasts.
This is excellent news for B2B marketers looking to connect, engage, and convert their target audiences. But what really makes digital media special is how simple it is to attribute it to these metrics.
The most challenging part of using traditional media to market your B2B brand is attribution.
Sure, you know how many people drive by a billboard, listen to a radio station, or watch a TV show. But what percentage is your target market? And how many are converting from that content or ads?
This is up in the air, making traditional media challenging (and expensive) to use.
It’s the opposite with digital media—it’s easier to track, manage, and tie to your brand’s growth (in awareness and revenue).
The Rise of B2B Podcasts (Amid COVID-19)
During a pandemic and city-wide lockdowns, you’d expect more people to consume traditional media. But that hasn’t been the case.
Numbers show people are choosing media that better resonates with their habits. For instance, podcasts continue to rise because they’re not live. Listeners can pause, rewind, fast forward, and even download them for later consumption.
Plus, listeners can choose what types of content they want to hear, thanks to various channels and categories to sift through. The number of podcasts on the market today grew by 80% (1.44 million) in the past year.
During COVID-19, we saw B2B podcasts enhance brands in several ways. Take a look at these impressive B2B podcast stats:
● Podcasts boosted brand awareness by 24%–79% (30x higher than other media channels)
● B2B brands saw a 77% campaign lift thanks to podcasts
But what makes B2B podcasts the “bee’s knees”?
According to one survey, 60% of people believe podcasts are more trustworthy than traditional media coverage of the pandemic. And another 65% agree or strongly agree that podcasts offer important, detailed information in a timely manner.
In a time of uncertainty, you want to show your audience you’re there and ready to help. So being consistent with your presence is vital now more than ever, and a B2B podcast is definitely a more affordable way to do this, vs. a billboard or a TV ad.
The Opportunity in B2B Podcasting
Brands need to prioritize content that resonates with their audience’s current needs. So if you can do that, then you’ll earn the trust and gratitude of your customer base.
B2B podcasts are an excellent medium because they’re inexpensive, but beyond that, podcasts also humanize your brand and give people a connection to the real people behind the brand.
Your podcasts will allow you to produce a plethora of insight-rich and informative content for your audience. We already know that people turn to podcasts for guidance and education, so you can maximize on that trend and make your brand THE expert.
From a content perspective, you can then take that audio and really wring out all you can by turning it into blogs, vlogs, graphics, audiograms, social media posts, and more. While allowing you to serve your audience, it can also create content that will benefit other areas of your businesses. That content will live online and amplify your brand for years.
Building a B2B Podcast for Your Brand
There are many reasons why having a B2B podcast is great. It can help you connect with, deliver great experiences to, educate, and entertain your listeners.
But it takes more than uploading great content to your website and streaming platforms. You need a way to amplify and measure the success of your B2B podcasts.
Casted is a platform B2B brands can use to do just that. It comes with all the features (and services) needed to build content awareness and conversions.
As we just spoke about, the audio content from your podcasts can be turned into videos… easy to do on our platform. And then you can build your SEO using the transcripts produced by our experts. You’ll also have a dashboard that monitors essential metrics for each podcast episode. You’ll know who’s listening, for how long, and which episodes are most popular.
You can even create a feedback loop to learn more about your audience and what they think. With all this data and insights, you can continue to improve your campaigns and the conversions they generate.
Want to see it in action? Then schedule your demo today!
