Having worked in the podcast industry for fifteen years at TWiT.tv and overseeing sales for most of it, I want to provide brands with an outline of best practices when advertising on podcasts because I have learned that all traditional ad agencies ignore them - which is where brands lose. Brands need expertise if they are going to succeed in podcast advertising. I recommend taking it in-house and buying directly from podcast networks that understand how campaigns work.
Here is what you need to know about buying podcasts if you have already determined the podcast network is a good fit for your brand:
Podcast ads take time to reach their fullest impact.
Podcasts are on-demand. You have to give audiences time to download the podcast episode, listen to it, then act on any ads they heard. These are not radio/TV ads that someone watched that day. Podcast ad traction builds over time.
A single podcast ad takes eight weeks to reach its greatest impact.
Podcast advertising is a slow game. If you see traction in the first eight weeks, you must give it longer to determine its effectiveness.
Brands should set up custom landing pages for their podcast campaigns.
Include client testimonials and logos from the podcast network you are advertising with.
Have a unique offer. Do not expect signups on a landing page if your website has the same offer.
Monitor the traffic and conversions to it and retarget those who did not sign up immediately.
Podcast ad tech is crucial to gauge attribution.
Every traditional ad agency we work with ignores podcast ad tech stating it could be better. Ad tech is flawed, yet it's vital for understanding podcast traffic.
Ad tech will give you an idea of how many listeners heard the brand's ad in a podcast episode, and then they track the IP address to see if the listener visited the brand's website.
You can also gauge shopping cart conversions, which only works well for B2C brands.
Without ad tech, brands will not know the total traffic sent to their website from podcast campaigns.
Set up a post-purchase survey.
With a post-purchase survey, brands can determine which campaigns worked for them.
Only a few agency clients use post-purchase surveys, which means brands were not properly informed, and they are unable to truly track the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Here at TWIT.tv, we help brands understand what it takes to review the total impact of a podcast campaign on our network. When brands allow their podcast ads to blossom, set up landing pages with unique offers, and include ad tech with post-purchase surveys - they understand the full scope of their campaign and its effectiveness on our network. If you leverage all the best practices, there will be no gaps in understanding impact. And in today's climate - brands should buy smarter and use all the tools available to measure podcast campaigns successfully.
