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Transforming Blog Content Into Podcast Episodes
How can you transform blog content into podcast episodes?
This is a question I have been thinking about for a while. So, I asked someone that I greatly admire for their expertise in the podcasting field. Tony Gordon is the Founder and Creative Director of GLProUK. His dedicated team can offer a range of audio packages to suit your digital marketing needs.
Tony Gordon works with everyone from first-time podcasters to serial hobbyists. When the question ‘How do I start a podcast?’ is asked, GLProUK has the answer.
Adam Crookes: Are there any stylistic trends in podcasts that we will see emerge this year? Tony Gordon: Brands are beginning to realize that the influencer marketing model generates as much, if not a higher interest when applied to the podcast market than direct B2B content. What this means is that we are starting to see more personalized shows from influencer types that are not geared towards selling a brand, whilst being sponsored and paid for by that brand, simply without the forced advertising. This has long been established in the US market, but the UK is playing catch up in the podcast space and this is an excellent sign for those looking for high level and genuine content and great news for us content creators looking to make more engaging shows.
Adam Crookes: How do you work with brands to come up with the initial concept of a podcast? Tony Gordon: This varies depending on industry and location. In the UK, this largely consists of educating classic marketing teams about the power of podcasting as a marketing tool and how it fits into their current marketing plan before we can get anywhere near what the show should be. We also liaise with sales teams to discover the target market and common tropes of the target audience. So often sales and marketing are either bundled into one team or compete with each other. In reality, marketing is there to support sales. Anything they do that does not comply with the needs or wants of the sales team can be a waste. Closing this gap helps us establish both how to target their niche in terms of podcasting and overall marketing strategy. After this, I would recommend focusing on a subject that everyone involved is excited by and use this to catch the ear of the listener. Enthusiastic participation is probably the most important point to focus on.
Adam Crookes: What are some of the main hurdles that you have to overcome? Tony Gordon: On a higher level, convincing management and classical marketing teams of where and why a podcast would fit into their strategy. Practically – getting people to wear headphones when recording is almost impossible!
Adam Crookes: How can existing blog content be incorporated into a podcast? Tony Gordon: Read, watch, listen. Everyone learns and absorbs content online through one of these three mediums and if you are releasing content in only one of these mediums, you are potentially neglecting an audience that may very well enjoy your work. At GLProUK, we record all of our blog releases as podcasts and we follow this up with a discussion show about the blog, so the team can flesh out, contest or reinforce the information given. Taking this to the next level and turning this into a subtitled video, either delivered to camera or using an audiogram graphic gives us the opportunity to engage with those that prefer or are drawn to the visual medium as well. This is an excellent way of utilizing content across social platforms and getting more from each of your blog posts.
Adam Crookes: Can you give us an example of a brand that is producing a great podcast? Tony Gordon: A great niche example of this is Shared Practices. A podcast by dentists, for dentists, about the rigmarole of starting a dental practice. This is designed to be helpful to young dentists get started and has built a loyal and constantly recycling audience to bear.
Adam Crookes: How can brands measure the ROI of podcasting? Tony Gordon: As time goes on and published analytics become more detailed, this does become easier. But the honest answer is, it’s fairly difficult. Spikes in analytics hits that correlate with show release and popularity over time are the obvious path. In-show ad reads should have a direct tracking path, to best allow advertiser audience tracking, but at the end of the day you are reliant on the user going to the page for accurate feedback on this and I would take these numbers with a pinch of salt. Engagement would be my advice in terms of best indicator; however, this also require the podcast to be backed by an engaging marketing team that keep the audience entertained and engage with the audience at all opportunities. Not only is that what the social algorithms want to see, it’s what people want also.