We’ve all had those emails - Company X blasts a cold message to your inbox asking if you’re ‘in the market for web design’. Or perhaps, whether your ‘decision maker is free for a meeting to discuss our (fill in the blank) services’.
Most companies get several of these unsolicited approaches each week, and the majority go straight to the same place – the trash folder.
Marketing your product or service effectively is a challenging feat and it can be a struggle reaching people you want to do business with. Email marketing especially is a double-edged sword. While it offers an affordable and direct means of targeting potential customers, the return on investment could be much higher.
Firstly, people are inundated with sales emails, making them too easy to ignore. Gartner says that only around 24 per cent of sales emails get opened. But even when they do, the l response rate is usually very low. Actually converting a lead from an email campaign can be a painstakingly slow process, causing you to wonder if it’s worth the time and effort.
There is a smart business hack that more and more business owners are noticing and getting significant results from.
Start a branded podcast and invite your ideal target clients as guests.
Create an enticing platform
Let’s say you are a digital transformation agency, and you want to sell your services to medium and large-sized companies and the decision maker in those companies is the Chief Digital Officer (CDO).
You could create a podcast show about the role of being a CDO, invite these individuals to appear on the show – and then build a business relationship on the back of the journey of making the podcast episode together.
It makes the whole outreach more specific and the lead generation process more natural. Put simply, your ideal buyer won’t feel they are getting the hard sell. Most will be pleased you consider them an expert worth talking to.
Elevating your company or brand
In addition, there are many other revenue-generating benefits of starting a podcast. By producing a podcast that is relevant for your industry, you are positioning yourself as a thought leader, enhancing your profile. You are sharing your insights on a particular topic with a potentially massive audience, maximising your exposure through social media.
Your visibility suddenly becomes much higher – which again generates more traffic for enquiries and eventually more business.
Podcasts also allow you to create your very own content factory. You can turn every episode into lots of pieces of content, such as blog articles, social media posts, and YouTube videos. From just one 60-minute podcast episode you can generate around 100 unique pieces of content to share across channels that will last for months. There is simply no better RoI when it comes to content creation.
At the same time, in this digital age where content is king, podcasts offer a unique avenue to engage audiences on a deeper level. According to a study by Edison Research and Triton Digital, 54 per cent of regular podcast listeners are more likely to consider buying a product or service after hearing about it on a podcast.
That’s a statistic hard to ignore, and it’s largely due to a podcast’s ability to humanise a brand.
Authenticity sells
By featuring experts – including the aforementioned target clients guests – to discuss industry trends, share insights, and offer valuable information, you will gain trust and credibility among your audience. People are more likely to gravitate towards companies they perceive as knowledgeable and authentic – and they are more likely to use their services.
Leveraging this powerful audio medium not only aligns with evolving consumer preferences, but also yields tangible results, making it a cost-effective investment for any business looking to grow its influence and customer base.
If you don’t start a podcast, rest assured your biggest competitors already have or soon will…
