Using video as part of your business marketing strategy is a no-brainer. As of today, it’s the leading source for learning about products and services for 66% of people.
And an impressive 93% of businesses gain new customers via their branded video content.
So why wouldn’t it be a part of your content marketing?
But the real question isn’t whether or not to use video, it’s about how you can use video to further connect with your audience. One option? How about turning your existing video series into a podcast, and incorporating B2B podcasting into your overall repertoire of marketing tools?
Let’s take a closer look at the statistics of B2B podcasting and how great it can be in your strategy.
The level of podcast consumption in America (and other parts of the world) have steadily increased over the past 15 years. Since 2008, monthly podcast listening soared from nine million to an astounding 37 million people in 2020.
Even the UK has seen growth from 14% to 18% of adults (15+) listening to podcasts weekly.
So not only is the audience growing, but it’s vibing with younger audiences, which proves B2B podcasting will be here for years (if not decades) to come.
But like we covered in another post, stats show B2B podcasting can:
• Attract and retain B2B listeners
• Establish your brand as a thought leader
• Build your brand with engaging content
• Grow your audience faster using influencers
• Generate additional revenue from sponsors and ads
Plus, podcasts are proving to have higher engagement rates than video content (gasp!). But it’s true—93% of podcast listeners complete most or entire episodes (30 minutes or longer).
Compare this to videos, and you’ll find the shorter the video, the higher the engagement. Ninety-second B2B videos have a 59% completion rate and only 14% completion for videos at least 30 minutes.
We saw podcast consumption rise since the COVID-19 pandemic. Roughly 40% of those surveyed say they’re listening to more podcasts since quarantine restrictions.
This means our audiences have adjusted their lives to accommodate their favorite B2B podcasts - now that’s powerful.
H2: Opportunities in B2B Podcasting is Relatively High
As of December 2020, there are 1.68 million podcasts hosted on Apple Podcasts. Yet, only 990,000 of these podcast channels are active (dropped an episode within the past 90 days). That’s roughly 59% of the Apple Podcast marketplace.
Then you have 67 million Americans listening to podcasts monthly and another 42 million listening weekly. These are people who are hungry for audio content.
There’s plenty of potential here to compete with inconsistent (and non-existent) B2B podcasts for an ever-growing market.
Let’s also throw in the fact business podcasts are on the rise. Roughly 13 million households are avid fans of B2B podcasts. Another 52 million households are casual B2B podcast listeners.
The B2B market is looking for branded content that’s trustworthy, helpful, unique, and engaging. If you can deliver this, then you’ll steadily grow your listener base.
B2B podcasts are an excellent way to expand your reach and branding. But by combining it with your already-published (and known) video series, you can amplify your content marketing.
Here’s a look at some of the ways you can do this.
You publish video content to your website, YouTube, and other social channels. This is great, especially if it’s getting engagement. But should you stop there?
Nope.
By transforming your video series into a podcast, you can ensure you’re maximizing your content’s value and consumption. It also opens up new channels to distrubte your content and potentially unlock a new audience.
When you started creating a branded video series, you likely used YouTube to supercharge your results. After all, it’s an excellent search engine and marketing tool to rank and attract traffic.
And it’s the same with a podcast. You’re now targeting an untapped market that may not use YouTube to find and consume your content.
By transforming your videos into audio content, you’re also offering a new way for your audience to engage with you yes on different channels, but also in different formats. As consumers, we all prefer different formats and mediums, so this is a great way to offer immediate value to your existing audience and usher in a new audience that might prefer content in an audio form and might source valuable content from podcast channels.
Video is a hot commodity right now, but so are B2B podcasts. By accommodating both groups with the content format they prefer to consume, you’ll boost the odds of getting more traffic and engagement.
So not only are you getting listeners and subscribers on YouTube, but you’re also getting them on Spotify and other channels you may be uploading to.
Many YouTubers are already on to this trend and are now adding podcasts to their strategy.
What makes online video and audio streaming great is that they allow you to consume it whenever and however you want.
By creating episodes in video and audio formats, you’re making it so your audience can binge your episodes in either form.
As we stated earlier, we all prefer different content forms. Don’t underestimate the value of having different formats to drive better engagement and content consumption.
We’d be naive to believe that online video consumers aren’t also listening to B2B podcasts (and vice versa).
So the goal isn’t to tell your audience how to engage with your content. Instead, you should offer convenience so they can pick and choose how they want to interact with your episodes.
This is especially true with the rise of multimedia experiences.
Today’s internet users aren’t on a single device or channel. They’re switching between their smartphone, tablet, desktops, and Bluetooth-enabled vehicles to consume content throughout the day.
For example, 75% of video views stem from mobile devices while at home. And smartphones and tablets are the most used device for listening to podcasts.
But how are they finding and consuming branded content?
Most listeners are getting recommendations from people they know, searching the web, or looking through social media.
And they’re using various platforms to listen to and watch branded content, including YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and Google Play.
So the more channels and formats you can cover, the better the multimedia experience will be for your audience.
The evidence showing B2B podcasts are the future of content marketing is overwhelming. As a B2B marketer or business owner, you need to be innovative in the ways you engage your audience.
By adding podcasting to your video marketing strategy, you can amplify your content and brand awareness. This can potentially drive more traffic, leads, and sales.
We realize that not every video series out there will make sense as a podcast, but chances are if you’re invested in video, you have quality content that could serve your audience in an audio format as well.
This is all easier to do when you have the right tools to upload content and track your B2B podcasts (so you can attribute it to conversions and sales).
At Casted, we help B2B brands use podcasts and video to engage their audiences. Learn more about our platform here and when you’re ready, schedule a free demo!