Podcasting is a powerful tool with a huge ROI. These 5 awesome benefits of podcasting should compel you to make podcasting a business priority this year!

1. Podcasts Are Convenient and Demand Is Increasing Sharply

Podcasts have gone from being a fringe type of media platform to becoming an unstoppable monster in the business and entertainment world. This platform is extremely convenient to use and allows people to digest information passively. Podcasting makes it easy to multitask since you can listen to an episode during a commute or while you’re eating lunch or doing chores or working. The very people who won’t spend 4 minutes reading an article will likely listen to a 30-minute podcast.

Our friends, Tom and Tracy Hazzard, have shared a massive amount of knowledge on this platform through the Feed Your Brand podcast. The podcast is their primary platform but they tie in written content and webinars to support their episode content. On a recent BrandcastingYou webinar, Tracy shared that podcasting has a far higher conversion rate than other platforms that businesses use to promote their brands. Social media converts 1.3% on their ads, and Google has a 13% conversion rate, but podcasting has a 30% conversion rate! There are 1.2 billion websites online and only 150,000 active podcasts, but podcasting is crushing it with leads and conversions.

2. Podcasting for Blog Posts adds SEO Superpower

Most businesspeople know that written content is key to doing business online. SEO – in conjunction with content marketing – is the name of the game. Podcasting for written content uses this same approach to search engine optimization but adds way more superpower!

An average podcast episode can easily be transcribed into a 4,000-word blog post after it’s recorded. Compare that to an average blog post of 400-800 words. This makes transcribed podcasts extremely attractive to Google and they will rank higher than shorter blog posts. If you want to work smarter, not harder, this is the way to do it! If a keyword script is properly prepared before your record, you will create a Google Magnet with each transcribed podcast, attracting a ton of blog traffic to your website. It’s a great way to get double the value from your podcast episodes.

3. Connect with Your Audience on a Personal Level

There is an intimacy to podcasting that you just can’t achieve through social media and blog posts. Subscribing to a podcast and regularly listening to episodes allows the listener to get to know you. Learning your voice and your style, your experience, sense of humor, and your personality will make listeners feel like they know you. We live in a time where businesses are struggling to compete for attention and connect with their target audience. Podcasting helps to bring you closer to your audience and creates a sense of loyalty based on familiarity.

Beyond podcasting consistently and getting in front of the same people over and over, you can take it a step further to connect with your audience. Build in a Q&A session, read comments from listeners, and play audio clips from your listeners. You can also follow up on social media or in the comments section of your blog post to interact with your audience one-on-one.

4. Partner Up, Cross Promote, and Build Strategic Relationships

Podcasting is an excellent resource for cross promotion and building important relationships. Savvy podcasters feature guests and establish strategic partnerships with other experts, especially those who have developed a listener base of their own. One of the key aspects of podcasting is that you can reach out to “guests” to make appearances, usually for an interview-style podcast episode. This is free publicity for them and it can serve as a way to build or to strengthen important professional relationships. If you choose the right guests strategically, you’ll gain access to their platforms as well and this is how you can cross promote with other non-competing businesspeople.

5. Establish Your Authority and Corner the Market

The most obvious benefit to hosting a specialized podcast is that you can establish your authority and build up your reputation as an expert. It’s a platform for associating yourself and your business to a particular industry or method. As mentioned earlier, there are only 150,000 active podcasts so it’s a perfect time to establish yourself as a leader in your industry. You could be one of a small group, depending on the focus of your podcast, and therefore you can corner the market while the podcasting production circle is still relatively small.

Getting back to the idea of hosting guests, there’s something to be said about authority and credibility when you bring a well-respected guest (or as the Hazzards call it, a podcasting influencer) onto your show. According to Tom Hazzard, our favorite podcasting expert, you can expert that “your audience will grow rapidly from guests who routinely share the interview with their large social media following or email lists.”

When you host another expert on your podcast and a hold a discussion with them, you “borrow” their authority. The very nature of the host/guest relationship can actually elevate your credibility above theirs. At the very least, you will share in their credibility.

Make Podcasting a Business Priority this Year!

You can easily establish yourself as a leading voice within your industry by launching a podcasting and committing to a publishing schedule. It’s easy to start a podcast if you have plenty of relevant content to share.

With such a high average conversion rate, it’s a mystery why more businesspeople aren’t choosing this approach instead of limiting themselves to social media ads and simple blog posts.

Learn how easy it is to start your own podcast and you will be ready to make podcasting a business priority this year!

DotCom Global Media is in the process of offering a full service podcasting service on behalf of their clients. Details to follow!