Three Reasons Why Podcast Marketing Beats YouTube for Business Owners in 2022
By: Kimberly Spencer
It seems like every business owner has a podcast these days. In the past year alone during the pandemic, the number of podcasts on Apple Podcasts nearly doubled, from 1.7 million to 2.3 million podcasts. One thing is clear: People are tuning in.
In 2008–2009, we saw a similar trend with YouTube. Those who started their channels back then are the influencers and industry leaders of today, from Brendon Burchard to Lily Singh to Tyler Oakley.
But what is it about podcasts that resonate with the lifestyle trends of consumers? And, why are business owners jumping on the trend to start their own podcast now?
Whether you’re thinking of starting your own podcast for your business or touring the guest-podcasting speaker circuit, here are three reasons why podcasting can work for your business.
1) Ease of building the know-like-trust factor.
Let’s face it: During the pandemic, between working from home and navigating homeschooling, people juggling everyday life had a lot more on their plates. Watching visual content to learn something requires a greater commitment.
Podcasts have an ease of use, as 65% of podcast listeners tune in using a portable device like their smartphones, according to Edison Research. Listeners can confidently tune in without the commitment of having to look at a screen, so they can successfully do other things, like driving, cooking dinner, or putting away laundry. In fact, over half of Americans listen to podcasts while doing other things.
In addition, according to Statista, the average YouTube video length for people and blogs (or “How To”) content is 8.9 minutes. The average YouTube retention rate is between 50% to 60%, according to a study analyzing over 56,000+ YouTube views across four small yet effective YouTube channels. Meaning viewers are only watching an 8.9-minute video for about 4.45 to 5.34 minutes!
Compare that to the average time someone spends listening to a podcast — 20 minutes. That could be one entire podcast episode! And 52% of podcast subscribers listen to an entire episode.
By either having your own podcast or being a guest on a podcast, you, therefore, have a longer opportunity to build the know-like-trust factor in your business. With the right audience listening to you, you could be speaking to hundreds, even thousands, of potential customers.
[Related: How to Utilize Podcasts to Propel Your Female-Owned Business]
2) Ease of profiting from being an expert.
Three out of four podcast listeners tune in to learn something new. Meanwhile, YouTube, more and more, has been a place where people go to be entertained. Yes, there are many entertaining and educational videos on YouTube, but there are also cat videos, commenting trolls, and video game players to watch, as well. So, just like with social media, your attention can easily be pulled away if a creator didn’t set the right ad targets or SEO parameters on their channel.
Meanwhile, business owners can use podcasting to establish their expertise, teach, educate, and eventually inspire listeners to become customers. By sharing your story and serving an audience with your skills, expertise, knowledge, strategies, and tips and tricks, you offer them value and build their trust.
And, in doing so, it makes advertising easier to convert listeners into buyers. According to a study by Convince and Convert, 54% of podcast consumers say that they think about buying a product.
Typically an advertisement on a podcast consists of the podcaster directly speaking to their audience about the value of the product, service, or company that is paying for advertising. Since their audience has already learned to trust the podcaster’s free advice, knowledge, and expertise, it’s just natural that they’ll have more confidence buying a recommended product or service, whether it’s from a third-party advertiser, or one of the podcasters’ own products or services. Both strategies can prove profitable for businesses.
Compare that to the potential ad revenue on YouTube. Even if a business owner sets the ad targets for their YouTube channel to brands and businesses that they think will align with their brand, you still cannot choose specific companies you want advertising on your channel. With a podcast, you have much more agency over what products, services, and companies you share with and recommend to your audience.
Additionally, for new business owners, YouTube has parameters around when ad revenue can be made off of the platform as a member of their partner program. Creators can apply for monetization once you’ve hit 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year.
With a podcast, a business owner could either sponsor their own podcast or find local or strategic partners to advertise on their podcast, no matter what stage of business they’re at, currently. You potentially could start profiting from podcasting on episode one.
[Related: The Future of Podcasts: Business Growth Strategies]
3) Ease of creation and connection.
Let’s face it: Not everyone wants to be camera-ready to film a video. Nor do a lot of entrepreneurs feel comfortable on camera. Sure, you could do YouTube videos with slide-decks, images, or animation, but that requires another layer of preparation, planning, and team, on top of editing and distribution.
With podcasting, all an entrepreneur needs is a decent microphone, recording software, and the comfort of some soundproofing. You can even use pillows if you want to get scrappy. This allows the already-busy busy entrepreneur to easily batch record episodes. You could even do it in your pajamas, should you desire. The ease of production allows a business owner to operate in his or her Zone of Genius — communicating the vision of the company, sharing both personal and customer stories, strategies, tips, and tricks — while also connecting with their audience on a deeper level.
So is podcasting the new YouTube? One thing is for certain: Both the number of podcast consumers and creators of podcasts are growing rapidly. And the trend continues to rise, with 30% of podcast listeners now saying they are listening more to podcasts than ever before.
[Related: Seven Powerful Tech Podcasts to Boost Your Career]
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Kimberly Spencer is the founder of CrownYourself.com, helping visionary leaders build their empire, stand out fearlessly, and confidently, courageously, and consciously “make it reign” in their business, body, and life.
Originally published at https://www.ellevatenetwork.com.
