5 Reasons to Include Podcasts in your PR Strategy

Podcasting has become one of the fastest-growing mediums in business, especially after the COVID-19 lockdowns. With more companies picking up podcasting, the industry has become filled with competition for gaining listeners and attention.

To put this into perspective, “41% of Americans listen to podcasts monthly and 40% of weekly podcast listeners tune in to 1-3 episodes a week.” (Convince and Convert, 2021).

With close to half of the U.S. population interacting with podcasts monthly, it makes sense to consider how to utilize these staggering numbers to your PR advantage.

From thought leadership to masterclasses, there are a lot of ways to utilize podcasting for your brand or client. Here are the top 5 reasons to include podcasts in your PR strategy:

1.) Extended Thought Leadership Opportunities

Just as you do when pitching sources, pitching a podcast guest works the same. Figure out what your source can speak on and what they have experience in. After this, find relevant podcasts by searching by topic.

For example, a search as simple as “podcasts on SaaS founders” can general a niche list of podcasts that would be relevant for your leader or client to speak on.

Another simple way to find relevant podcasts for your thought leader is to set up a profile on PodMatch. Dictate what this guest can speak on, add a short bio, and let their technology match you with best-fit podcasts.
Podcasts work the same way an article would work for thought leaders. It establishes strong trust among consumers, expands visibility by being present on different mediums, and also gives your company or client a leg up in the industry.

Timothy Carter of Forbes said, “Thought leadership is also a way to help your brand stand out in a crowded market. If there are dozens of companies like yours, but yours is the only one with a reputed expert at the helm, you’ll stand a much better chance of winning a larger share of customers than your competitors.”

All in all, utilize podcasts as another channel to showcase your brand or client as a thought leader in your industry. With millions of listeners each month, this is bound to amplify your PR strategy by boosting visibility across different platforms.

2.) Multiple SEO Benefits

As a PR professional, you want to get your brand or client’s name out there and in relevant places, whether that’s TV, print, or digital publications. SEO plays a huge role in customers coming across brands or their products.

When thinking about manageable ways to boost a brand’s SEO presence, a great solution is being a guest on a podcast. Most podcasts have the recorded conversation in addition to the show notes and/or a blog that accompanies it. This allows for double the exposure and additional backlinks to the brand’s site from a reputable source.

Another side benefit to this is that being a guest also inherently drives referral traffic to your brand’s site over an extended period of time. Podcasts age differently than articles do, especially when the podcast is more of an evergreen topic.

Unlike articles that become outdated after two or so years, podcast episodes are almost “ageless” in that people can still find valuable information within them for a long while after. This means that referral traffic from being a guest on podcasts can still remain steady and trickle in many years after.

3.) Increased Ease of Consumption

Podcasts are unique because they have the power to extend your audience due to how they are consumed. When combining podcasts with traditional PR methods, allows for your brand or client to be featured across different mediums that will appeal to different demographics.

People are inherently busy, which does make it harder for people to sit down and read an article. Podcasting opens the door to those folks who aren’t that inclined to read an entire article, but who are open to multitasking while listening.

In addition to this, podcasts offer a unique way to captivate an audience and tell your story. While articles are limited by word count, podcasts give guests the opportunity to really tell their story more in-depth than a typically written article would.

According to Krystal Covington on Forbes, “With many podcast interviews lasting between 15 and 60 minutes, the shows offer their guests the chance to tell a longer and more captivating story.”

Podcasts not only allow you to extend your audience to those who prefer audio over text, but it also allows brands to tell their stories more holistically.

Thought leaders and brands can showcase their knowledge in a way that typically written articles would not allow for.

4.) There’s No Shortage of Niche Topics

When it comes to PR and getting a placement in top-tier publications like Forbes or Entrepreneur, their audience isn’t always within your perfect niche. This is where podcasts become handy.
You can pitch your thought leader to podcasts that are hyper-focused on your brand’s target audience.

There’s a podcast for every topic, so being able to focus on the topics your thought leader can speak on or that are specific for your brand is fantastic for exposure.

According to OnePitch’s Co-Founder and COO, Jered Martin, “By pitching yourself, or a guest, as a thought leader on smaller, topic-focused podcasts you can gain exposure to an audience of targeted listeners.

Much like we recommend pitching trade news outlets, these listeners are typically studying or trying to perfect the subject matter of the expert and are looking to gain insights from them.

Booking these types of podcasts can also be a stepping stone for future bookings on shows with a larger audience and more influence.”

5.) Guests Have Full Control over the Story they Tell

Another benefit to including podcasts in your PR strategy is that you have full control over the story that’s being told.

When working with a journalist, they decide what’s newsworthy and worth including for their audience; However, with podcasts, you get to dictate that story and share the aspects that you find important.

Don’t get me wrong, journalists are masters of their craft and they know what resonates with their audiences. The exposure from a written placement is huge, but mixing in podcasting to your PR strategy also gives you a leg up on creating a holistic story for those eyeing your brand.

It allows there to be the opinions of others (journalists), while also the opinions and story of your own.
As I’ve mentioned throughout this article, a strong PR strategy is an integrated PR strategy that utilizes different tools to amplify brand visibility. With this being said, PR is no easy feat, especially when it comes to finding the right journalists to pitch.

Looking to find specific podcasts that you can be a guest on?

PodMatch

Sign up for an account on PodMatch and receive daily podcast guest recommendations on your profile!

Also, be sure to consider creating an agency account if you are managing multiple clients or brands.

This will allow you to create multiple profiles under one single dashboard so you can easily manage all your most important contacts. An agency account gives you unlimited matches, advanced filtering, increased traction, and more.

Looking to find journalists to pitch your news but don’t know where to start? OnePitch is a first-of-its-kind matching PR technology that aligns the news you are trying to share with the journalists who are most likely to write about it.

We provide you with a completely curated media list of journalists who you can pitch directly through the platform.