Marketing through podcast

Abstract

Podcast is a new audio media in Sweden and has become larger and increasingly more popular in the past few years. In line with this, companies have seen the opportunity to use this type of marketing in the new coveted media and have created a new marketing tool in the form of sponsorship. Previous studies in this field indicate that this is a very effective method to reach a broad audience, but it still is a relatively new area with very little research in existence today.   This study is an analysis of how receptive listeners are to marketing through podcasts and the ability companies have to create a sustainable and effective strategy for successful marketing through this type of medium.   The collection of data for this study consists of two different qualitative interviews, the first one with listeners that were chosen, and the second with the sponsor company for two of the largest podcasts in Sweden. The essay´s empirical evidence shows how receptive listeners are to marketing via podcasts, what their podcast habits look like, what form of approach in marketing they prefer, and how often they take part in different offers. From the interviews with listeners and sponsoring companies in the study, it is concluded that the best and most effective strategy for marketing through podcasts is to weave advertising in the conversation and therefore increase the credibility and disturb the listener as little as possible. This also effects how receptive listeners are and it has been shown that they listen less carefully when advertisement is placed within commercial breaks. How receptive listeners are to advertising also depends on some other factors such as noise, how engaged they are, and how the large amount of advertising around us effects our assessment of advertising. To strengthen this, and to get a larger foundation for the study, a collection of data such as documents has been analyzed. Public documents in this area are interesting because in recent years a lot of articles have been written about the podcast culture. At the same time, it is still a relatively new medium which allows for much of the existing research to be built on and renewed. A recommendation for companies that want to promote themselves in the podcast media is to carefully plan a sustainable strategy that is right for their particular brand. Other aspects to keep in mind are to always pursue the most current avenues or advertising, to avoid radio advertising in the form of commercial breaks, and to instead focus more on talking about the brand during the program to make it more natural and interesting. This increases brand awareness and makes it possible for the brand to become the listener’s top-of-mind choice