Podcasts Take Professional Marketing by Storm by Gina F. Rubel
The Facts About Podcasting Podcasts have become more popular than watching videos, reading electronic newsletters, and viewing television. For many professionals, they are used as a successful marketing and business development tool. Professionals in every area of business now use podcasts to connect with a broader audience. There are many genres for podcasts; everything from music (the most popular), TV and movies, to comedy, technology, and kids and family. Other popular genres today include games and hobbies, sports, society and culture, arts, and business. Did you know that the average podcast consumer listens to seven podcast episodes per week, and 93% of podcast fans listen to most of an episode? According to Podcast Insights: • There are over 750,000 podcasts and 30 million episodes as of June 2019; • 51% of the U.S. population has listened to a podcast, and it is expected that by 2022, 132 million people in the U.S. will listen to podcasts; • Listeners are loyal, affluent and educated; • Smartphones drive podcast usage with an increase of more than 150% since 2014; and • Podcast listeners are much more active on every social media channel (94% are active on at least one versus 81% for the entire population)
10 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Podcast Before you leap into podcasting, ask yourself these questions: 1. What is the purpose of the podcast? 2. Why do I want to enter the podcast space? 3. Who is the audience, and do they listen to podcasts? 6
Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 198, 2020
4. Is the podcast focused on a B2B or B2C audience, or both? 5. Do I have the time, bandwidth, and patience to produce a podcast? If the answer is no, stop here. 6. What do I have to offer via a podcast, and what will be its impact? 7. How will my podcast be different from all the others out there? 8. What does the success of a podcast look like for me? 9. How will I measure the key performance indicators (KPIs) or return on investment (ROI) for my podcast? 10. Can I monetize the podcast? In other words, can it be a source of business (I’m not referring to ad dollars here)?
How to Get Started in Podcasting I asked several experts how professionals can get started in podcasting. Here’s what they had to say … Nancy Myrland is the founder of Myrland Marketing and Social Media. She is an early adopter of digital technologies and the first legal marketing professional in the world to launch and host an Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing, which also is the Legal Marketing Minutes podcast. She said, “Although the technology required to launch a podcast successfully has never been more accessible, professionals must be interested in launching a podcast, and committed to follow through because a lack of consistency can make the professional look bad.” She said, “Strategy always comes first. Professionals should discuss the strategy around their podcast, including who the intended audiences are, what the tone of the podcast will be, what the format will be, what music to use, whether it is solo or will involve guests, who will record the podcast, who will edit it, how it will be marketed, who will be involved in the ongoing development and evolution of the podcast, and much more.” Kristin Dohan, the Marketing Manager for Klasko Immigration Law Partners helped launch and has produced all episodes of the firm’s podcast Statutes of Liberty: An
