Question

Invent a business scenario in which podcast could be used effectively to improve a company's profitability, efficiency, or other elements.

Answer 1

Podcasting has acquired immense popularity and success over the years. Basically, a set of audio files available for users to download from the internet, Podcasts are increasingly being used by businesses to improve their business metrics. Once a user subscribes to the podcast, it receives digital files as and when they are uploaded by the host. With an exponential growth in the usage of mobile phones, podcasts have become a potent marketing tool for young marketers.

Some of the key impacts can be summarized as follows:

1.       Increased Traffic generation – Podcasts assists in connecting with a wide consumer base. Companies and hosts have observed massive growth in the volume of traffic coming in due to the podcasts in a very short span of time. This is a captive set of audience in itself, highly interested and involved in the current scheme of things. No other set of target segment can be as accurate as this, hence a marketer’s delight. Direct targeting here can lead to exponential increase in sales at affordable acquisition cost, thereby better profitability. This set of audience constantly recommend the podcast further, growing your reach to a notch higher.

2.       Strong relationship building with your audience – Without actually two parties ever interacting, podcasts builds a unique relationship between the two. Despite being a one-sided medium, audiences connect and bond with the host pretty similar to a friendship. This connections helps in bringing the customer closer. The consumer insights received here can be of immense use as companies can understand what the consumer wants and product development can take place according to that in a focused manner. Thereby reducing research and development effort and cost considerably, and improving process efficiency.

3.       Higher conversions, higher revenue and profit – Generally, all podcasts have a subscription model with a pro-membership, and users need to upgrade to this to access the nifty tools and content of the Pro-membership. The trust built through the podcast is so high, that users actually relate with the host and this is where the host’s ability to share the benefits of the pro-membership shoots up. People do not view it as a sale but an encouragement, this comes primarily because of the bond of friendship developed.