For the latest on Branded Podcast ROI check out this post!
So you want to make a podcast.
If you’re reading this, it’s because you’ve decided that your brand – which you work incredibly hard to develop and protect – is due for a foray into the audio sphere. You’ve decided your brand needs an actual, real-life authentic voice.
And with this desire comes the ultimate question burning in your heart and that of your team:
What’s the True ROI from a Branded Podcast?
And to that, we have a very simple answer (followed by a complex article): What will be the ROI of not doing a podcast?
We wouldn’t have started JAR if we didn’t believe in the potential of the medium and the ample returns it can provide. So let’s dive into the metrics that we think you should and should not listen to (pun intended) in the podcast world.
Podcast ROI #1: Building your brand
Here’s a question for you: How do you measure ROI for OOH? And digital channels like Blogs and Social Media? The answer will be different for every brand because ROI varies depending on what type of customer and product you’re working with.
But the variability of ROI is not a reason to not do these forms of marketing, right?
Similar to Blogs and Social Media, brand podcasts (albeit exploding in popularity) are just in their infancy in terms of their long-term impact. Like blogging and social a decade ago, the opportunity is to provide a source of valuable content for your audience and allow them to interact with your content (and brand) in a meaningful and intimate way.
The brand ROI for podcast lies within the experience, which will continue to grow as a desirable form of engagement as the industry grows.
As for metrics, podcasts are actually further along than either of these mediums were in their respective early days. Brands podcasting in 2020 gets to benefit from the last 20 years of digital audio groundwork.
Now keep in mind – metrics don’t tell the whole story. They give us a great sense of overall engagement and even the quality of engagement, but we’ll be the first to admit that in this industry, much like its digital brethren, we cannot always track a listen (similar to a “view”, or “like”) back to a future purchase. However, similar to those industries, we are able to analyze whether our audio content is making waves in its respective medium.
So here are the brand-building metrics we tell our clients to look out for. These apply just as much to episode #1 as they do to episode #100.
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Total Downloads and Total Play: An easy tell of the podcast’s success and a simple way to compare episodes to each other and improve. Podcast hosts and directories display these digits, although keep in mind that not all hosting services offer these numbers.
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Listen-Through Rate: This is a way to track the quality and engagement we mentioned above. The listen-through rate tells us how long into the podcast our audience is listening. It’s also referred to as “listener drop off”, or more commonly, “audience retention”.
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Total Subscribers: Luckily for JAR, our selected podcast host OMNY offers Subscriber metrics, which go a long way in defining success. Subscribers, much like social media followers, are the elixir of your podcast’s popularity and impact.
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Reviews: Tracking what people are actually saying about the podcast, much like what they say about their favourite shows and movies, and much like what they would say about a retailer in Google Review or Facebook. A highly reviewed podcast will create a compound effect of growth, leading it straight to the top of the…
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Charts: What other forms of digital media allow brand content to rank in the same categories as regular old organic content? Only podcasts. The two most popular directories at this time are Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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Measuring with other digital channels: Some branded podcasts, much like their non-brand counterparts, have created completely separate email lists and social channels dedicated entirely to the show. Where podcast metrics still have room to grow, these other channels offer data and engagement rates that are much more accepted at various levels of brand marketing.
Those are the high-level metrics, but in reality, we’re just scratching the surface.
Podcast ROI #2: Lead Generation & Sales
This is the part you’re here for – will the podcast generate new leads and drive sales?
Well, it could. And it can. But that may not be your podcast’s ultimate intent.
Entering the 2020s, the need to make truly valuable and listen-worthy content is higher than it’s ever been, and so is the number of competitors in the space. Without great content, it’s hard to compete on any storytelling-based medium.
A podcast with a solid storytelling foundation – even if it doesn’t focus on a brand’s product or campaign – can still generate a ton of potential sales ROI. The key is measuring the impact on the brand’s other properties, such as website and email.
Site Traffic: Smart podcast brands look deep into their website analytics for any traffic that has come over from the podcast, either as a result of a link in the description or show notes or simply for a spike in traffic in the days that the podcast peaks in listen. There may be fascinating user data to be observed here, as those listeners may behave differently on the website than the usual crowd. Could a podcast lead to new visitors on the website, a new demographic, or even purchases? Absolutely.
But even if they don’t react at first, it doesn’t mean the podcast isn’t working. It may instead have a longer-term, harder-to-trace impact, just like most other digital channels.
What matters here is to think about where in the funnel your podcast lies. It may be completely different for B2B and B2C brands, and for online versus retail.
When thinking about your funnel:
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Consider measuring your website traffic over the course of your podcast season and looking for any particularities in the demographic, devices, sources, actions, and page visits.
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Consider adding UTM codes to your podcast links on social and email if your brand is running a ton of other campaigns and ads.
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Consider any campaigns the brand is running that are relevant to the podcast subject matter. For example, publishing a podcast episode that features an influencer who is also a brand partner with a dedicated product line or sponsorship. Do those sales or engagements spike when the podcast is launched? What happens next?
Customer Retention: Podcasts offer value to existing and loyal customers by exposing them to a new medium of education and entertainment. One of JAR’s clients, Saje Natural Wellness, offered in-store listening stations for their podcast Well Now, which garnered lots of positive feedback to their in-store team. We are also in the production with an organization that wants to build a more intimate relationship with a very small (but incredibly important) group of clients.
Email & Direct Conversions: Concrete ROI is definitely possible when the podcast links to email signup. The signup might be available directly on the brand’s website, a standalone podcast website, or an email-specific landing page.
With email signups correlated to the podcast, brands can actively measure new audiences and their behaviour over time. Although this may not lead to purchases after just one podcast listens, it opens an airway for the brand-curious audience, who may blossom into recurring customers after listening to a few episodes or the entire season.
Consider this the most simple way for brands to own data and create impact with podcasts.
Podcast ROI #3: Internal brand equity and recruitment
As we mentioned earlier, a podcast is a great opportunity to offer unique and organic content to your audience – an audience that is hopefully comprised of some of your brand’s own employees. Heck, it may even be a podcast meant solely for them!
This may seem daunting, as you may accidentally reveal that many employees don’t want to listen. But it can also be an opportunity to segment your internal audience and learn about the podcast’s true performance.
The key here is to find a platform that enables internal measurement. Many great intranets will be able to provide (at the very minimum) total clicks and engagements on a linked podcast, and hopefully podcast-specific groups or forums.
When looking at measuring internal podcast impact, the possibilities in ROI seem almost juicier than they do in the customer-facing realm. Imagine a podcast revealing what topics employees are and are not interested in, and over time becoming a staple of the brand’s working culture. Imagine featuring different employees in a corporate-neutral setting of strong content, which generates higher buy-in and greater productivity at scale.
Finally, podcasts can help organizations who are always hiring to attract top talent as a way of showcasing their forward-thinking, approachable, and personable way of thinking. Some companies now have channels entirely dedicated to displaying workplace culture and benefits – and a podcast can be a direct and intimate way of demonstrating that.
The Podcast ROI Formula
It wouldn’t be right to post a blog about ROI without crunching some real numbers. So for the sake of those that want true dollar amounts attached, let’s dive into quick formulas for determining true ROI on podcasts.
Podcast ROI Formula #1:
(Total Ad Revenue) minus (Total Production Time/Spend + Expenses) = ROI
We’re not the first ones to list this, and we can’t say that it makes sense for every (or any) brand to measure their podcast like this. What you’ve probably noticed here is that this formula relies on Ad Revenue, which is not something we always recommend for every branded podcast, depending on their goals. However, know that in the non-brand world, the measurement of a podcast comes down to a version of this.
Podcast ROI Formula #2:
10% of Social Followers + Media Buy = 100% Initial Podcast Audience
All brands, even those with only a few thousand social media followers, should be able to convert at least 10% of that audience into podcast listeners. Social followers are an audience that has already agreed to consume your brand’s content (in multiple formats), and thus many of them will be interested in a podcast.
With a strong social media foundation, a well-planned media buy, a strategic launch plan, and excellent podcast content, one full season of podcasting should net the brand 10% of its social following as subscribers and/or listeners.
Key Podcast ROI Statistics
We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again – JAR Audio’s branded podcasts receive consumption rates as high as 95%!
In fact, in a recent study conducted by the BBC, organizations with branded podcasts have also seen:
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89% higher awareness
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57% higher branded consideration
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24% higher brand favorability
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14% higher purchase intent
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16% higher engagement and 12% higher memory encoding than other forms of content
Finding what ROI means to you
Some brands measure ROI in overall awareness and share of voice. Some have a mandate to provide help and guidance on certain topics. And others quite simply know that high engagement on various platforms eventually leads to sales of their products.
In the end, every brand measures content ROI differently depending on their goals. And we encourage all brands to think about the potential to capture new audiences and captivate their existing audiences for long periods of time.
When social media opened up to company pages, brands had to develop entirely new strategies to connect with social media audiences on the level that they expected. There was no hiding bad product plugs or blatant commercials on social; brands had to develop personality and create value in the form of 6 to 30-second videos, curated content, and even memes.
For blogs, albeit lengthier to produce, the content promised to keep the audience captivated for far longer (3-5 minutes at a time), and also contributed to SEO and overall website traffic.
With podcasts though, brands can captivate the listener’s attention for hours, and do it in an environment where there are no other posts or distractions vying for their attention. Once someone hits play on a podcast, they are locked in until they have a reason not to be.
The key is good content. And just like on other platforms, the impact of good content is long-term and can build awareness and impact the bottom line by attracting new audiences, growing relationships with current audiences, creating a new voice, increasing your share of voice, and possibly even changing perceptions.
So do you want to make a podcast?
Roger Nairn is Co-Founder and CEO of JAR Audio
