Be Remembered: Brand Strategies for Podcasts
November 13th, 2006 by 
adminPodcasts are a great marketing tool—if people remember them. Sadly, the podcast’s popularity (with thousands of them swarming on the Internet) has led to each and every one of them becoming as distinct as, well, peas in a pod. This is one classic example of something being too successful for its own good. Podcasts have become so easy to do, and the tools so affordable and easy to find, that anyone with a microphone, computer cables, and a few free hours to kill, can create one. This has made it mighty difficult for anyone to really create a podcast that is not only memorable, but addictive. The type that people talk about and download obsessively. The type that create the huge following and click-through that advertisers will pay for, and push a website to the top of a Google search.So what’s the secret to this kind of podcast? Great content, yes. But as any brand manager knows, you can have a very good product that gathers dust on the shelves because people don’t care about it. Image means everything—what people perceive is more important than what a product actually is.
So what’s the secret to this kind of podcast? Great content, yes. But as any brand manager knows, you can have a very good product that gathers dust on the shelves because Image means everything—what people perceive is more important than what a product actually is.This starts with the name of the podcast. Is it something that’s easy to remember, catchy, and most of all, embodies the theme and tone of the podcast? “Great Finds in Archaological Sites” sounds like the history class you used to skip in college. Appeal to the romance. “Treasure Hunting in Forgotten Lands” – now there’s something people will download.
So you’ve got the name. Now you need a slogan, and one that you’ll intersperse in your podcast script so that it becomes associated with your podcast. The thing about slogans is that it’s got to be simple, but not inane. For example, “short, easy dinners” is a very straightforward slogan for a cooking podcast, but it’s not catchy. What about “the 20 minute gourmet”?
Now for the mark of professionalism. Be very careful that all materials related to your podcast look like they’ve been done by someone who knows what he’s doing. It’s disgusting how some announcements are grammatically incorrect, or use slapstick English. One podcast announced itself as “trendz from ur fashion friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!” It sounds like a 13 year old did it, and the only thing missing was scrawled pink hearts and chewing gum. Please, even if you are a podcast for teens, remember—it’s not cool to be stupid.
Then, make yourself known. Farm out press releases, create related articles with editorially valid content that websites will want to include in their pages. For example, if your podcast is about cars, send an article on the most Family Friendly vehicles and send it to a parenting site. You can also send an article on car insurance to an insurance website, and the cars that young celebrities drive to a teen site. In other words, try to drum up publicity with content that will lead people back to your podcast, and also present you as the “authority” in a given field.