Podcast advertising is a unique medium, most of the ads are host read endorsement style ads. Typically the host will sample a product or service and then in their own words, create an ad read for your company or your product service. The unique part about it is that it doesn't feel forced because it's a natural, organic, authentic ad read. As a business, you can create a connection with a potential customer via a 'word of mouth' marketing campaign, because so often podcast hosts do scrutinize the types of advertisers that come on their show.

I have found that unlike other forms of advertisement, such as radio and tv, if a company makes an enquiry about advertised on a podcast, the host is likely to say no if they don't have a genuine interest in the product. The value for the advertiser is that you get a genuine product or service review. We look at podcast advertising as a form of influencer marketing because the host is ultimately trying to encourage their audience to go and purchase your product or service. So it's, I think, a good way to add an influencer and word of mouth element to your marketing.

Yeah, absolutely. I think about 78% of all podcasts out there are running either host or producer read ads. The bulk of the ads running in the podcast space right now are those hosts read endorsement ads, which I think sets them apart from other forms of marketing. There are many tools nowadays that block ads but with podcast advertising, listeners say that they don't mind them due to the organic feel of them.

If you are interested in running a brand awareness campaign, you should still try to give the host an opportunity to use your product or service. It is going to give their review a level of authenticity that it wouldn't have if they were just advertising a product that wasn't something that they had used. Therefore, you certainly can use it for brand awareness.

There are a few different routes that you can do. First, you must understand your business inside and out. Realistically, podcast advertising does tend to be a national and or international type of advertising. If you run an e-commerce store, have a software product, and if you can ship your product out, then podcast advertising is a really good fit for you.

In terms of identifying podcasts, that would be a good fit for you, I typically recommend that you take a look at who your customer is, and then identify the types of podcasts that they might like to listen to. I also think that having a selection of podcasts that you advertise on gives you a good baseline to determine success. Depending on what you're looking to spend, you could go to a podcast advertising agency. Although, I'd say this might cost up to $10,000 to $20,000 but they can be super effective and reach out to a lot of potential customers.

Another other option is identifying networks of shows, these are typically podcasts within a specific genre. You can go to a network and they might have 10 or 20 different podcasts that they work with. Lastly, there's also speaking to representation firms. The difference between an agency that is working with the advertiser and an agency that's representing the podcast is that they represent the podcaster as opposed to the advertiser.

Size matters and so I think that that is certainly something that people need to consider when they're putting together a campaign. This is determined by the type of customer that you're looking to attract. There's an app called Castbox and it tells you how many plays a podcast has received, you can look at the size of the podcast and also and how many plays it may have received, giving you a sense of how big a show is. You need to make sure the podcast you advertise on is getting a consistent number of views and frequent downloads.

Pricing is really important to consider because as a company if you are looking to get a return on your investment, you want to make sure that it is priced appropriately. One of the things that I always like to recommend that people consider podcast advertising, is that it can be a slower-moving medium. Often, people are very accustomed to social media or paid search ads, where they can see instant results and can see instant clicks. Despite podcasts moving slower, they tend to perform better in the long run, therefore you can get a strong return on your investment as long as you're selecting podcasts that are going to be a good fit.

Typically, you will hear the idea of cost per mille (CPM) and cost per thousand, how much does it cost to reach 1000 people. If you are going to a larger show, getting more than 100,000 downloads per episode, I would say a CPM model is a very good way to look at the pricing. Oftentimes I find that if you're working directly with smaller shows CPM pricing is probably not how they're operating, they're probably going to create more of a package for you, for a set price. For example, sometimes these packages can include podcast ads, social posts and including you in their newsletter.

You should look to create a level of frequency within your campaign. If you're going to embark and commit to getting results from a podcast campaign, you need to buy multiple ads. You should always get host read ads, but I typically recommend that people look to create a three-month campaign. You want space between ads and therefore I wouldn't recommend running ads straight for three months. I would always suggest that you run a few ads, skip a few weeks, run a few more, skip a few weeks, that kind of on and off cadence over the course of a three month period, giving you the opportunity to see results.

Audience growth is so important if you are a podcaster. The number one way to grow podcast listenership is to market yourself on other podcasts. I always recommend that if you can find other cross-promotional opportunities with other podcasts, that's a good way to grow. Being interviewed on your podcast could be a fun way to grow and also to market your product or service. You could also try and get some guest appearances for your CEO or your founder, it can be a great way to get the message out there and gauge the responsiveness of your podcast in general.If you're a podcaster, you can also consider buying ads for your podcast on other shows.