Podcasts are all around; almost anywhere you travel, practically everyone you speak to has heard of or has their favourite podcasts on their phone, computer, or tablet. So it’s hard to talk to another traveller or travel entrepreneur without the topic of podcasting being a talking point!
The 2020 Podcast Study by Edison clearly shows a skyrocketing upward trend in podcast listenership, which continues to grow exponentially year after year. In addition, the number of new podcasts in production has tripled during the pandemic!
The popularity of podcasts is a product of the trust factor associated with listening to another person's voice. When you can hear their voice, and consistently listen to them week after week, it's easy to develop an "audio relationship" with that person because you feel like you know them so well. When your podcast followers connect with your voice, story, and personal brand, you're on your way to landing a new customer.
With more and more people creating podcasts and more consumers checking out podcasts on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and other podcast platforms, it’s easy to see why creating a podcast is an excellent way to get into your ears potential clients. But, with so much hype centred around podcasting, how can you get in on podcasting profits and exposure to potential new clients?
And if you're new to podcasting, we break down the very basics of podcasting for you in this blog.
How Podcasts Can Spread the Word About Your Business
Creating and producing a podcast is a great way to get the word out about your business, especially if you’re travelling. Travel podcasts have become very popular in the past five years. They are an easy way to catch up on the latest trends, how COVID has affected travel, and new bucket-list items and experiences of travellers. In addition, podcasts are a great way to attract new clients if your business isn’t geographically bound. In other words, if you work online and don’t need to see your clients face-to-face, podcasting is an excellent sales and lead medium!
Create Content That Provides Value for Your Podcast Listeners
While your podcast may sell your services, you don’t want your podcast show to be a pitch fest of sales. Instead, provide quality entertainment for your listeners. For example, give them information on the best bed and breakfasts in Europe, why you love river cruising, or a new tourpreneur who provides unique tours in South America. Whatever your travel niche is, choose a vertical that you love to make and share content that your listeners will eat up on every episode!
How to Pitch Your Travel Business on Your Podcast
Besides providing content on your podcast show about your travel business, and the type of travellers you want to attract, your podcast episodes are the perfect place to pitch your business advertisement. Whether you choose to put your ad in the beginning or midroll of your show, creating an advertisement for your brand is one of the most effective ways to lead a potential client down your sales funnel and get your listeners onto your email list.
Market Your Product or Service Using Your Podcast
Producing a podcast is a great way to sell your product or service and an excellent way to build trust with your tribe, develop listenership, and increase your email marketing list. By offering a free value-added product, ebook, or PDF on your podcast, you can direct your listeners to your sales funnel and encourage them to purchase your book, online course, or opt-in to your email list.
Although you can also acquire a sponsor as monetisation for your podcast, sponsors are often hard to come by and only cover the essential cost of podcast production, especially if you’re hiring out and delegating different aspects of your podcast. While sponsorships are an excellent way to negate podcast production costs, for most podcasters, they will cost you more time than money if you are using sponsorships for income.
Read the next in our podcast series, how to find your podcasting niche.
Podcasts are great tools on virtually any subject. However, with over 2,000,000 podcasts out there, sifting through them can seem impossible. Read to our Top 6 Podcasts for Creators to find your new favourites.
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