Starting a podcast is no small task, so of course you’ll want to make sure it’s a worthwhile investment of your time and money. But here at Podcircle, we’ve seen over and over again how a great podcast can help businesses engage current and new audiences alike. 

Here are 6 ways a podcast can directly support your business goals:

1. Increase Website Traffic and Drive Sales

When used strategically, a podcast can play a key role in your “top of funnel” marketing strategy. By providing quality content for your target audience, you’ll reach new people who may not be ready to make a purchase today, but are still interested in what you have to offer.

You can use your podcast to drive those listeners to other marketing channels, whether that’s your website, your social media, or a free download. And while these people may not immediately convert to customers (though that can happen, too), they’ll have your name at the top of their minds when they are ready to make a purchase someday.  

 2. Build Brand Loyalty and Establish Your Authority

What would you pay to capture your target audience’s full attention for 30 seconds? What about 30 minutes?

More than 60% of U.S. consumers over age 12 listened to podcasts in 2022, so chances are, your audience is listening too! There’s never been a better medium for capturing people’s attention, and then keeping them engaged with valuable content.

And the more people listen, the more they’ll come to view you as an expert authority in your space. You’re not only educating them about what you have to offer, you’re building trust. Which leads us directly into the third benefit of starting a podcast for your business… 

3. Reach New Audiences and Build Community

Think about your own buying habits. If given the choice between two businesses, wouldn’t you prefer to make a purchase from the one you know and trust? Podcasts are a scalable, efficient way to start building that trust before ever getting on the phone with someone or even collecting their information.
And research shows us that podcast listeners are open to discovering new products and services through this medium. 69% of podcast listeners say that podcast advertisements introduced them to new products or services, and 54% are either somewhat or much more likely to consider buying from a brand after hearing it promoted on a podcast.

4. Monetize Beyond Your Established Offerings

So far, we’ve mainly focused on the ways you can use your podcast to drive customers to your products or services. But podcasts can also form an additional revenue stream for your business, separate from your established offerings.

If you want to learn more about monetizing your podcast, check out this article, where we dig into partnerships, sponsorships, affiliate links, and much more!

5. Streamline Your Content Creation

Have you ever considered that a podcast can be a content marketing machine? With just one 30-45 minute podcast episode, you can generate an incredible amount of long and short-form content for different marketing channels, including:

• Full-length video podcast episodes for YouTube and Spotify

• Full-length audio podcast episodes on Apple and Google Podcasts

• Newsletter and blog copy

• Short-form videos for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, LinkedIn, TikTok and Facebook

• LinkedIn copy

Think how much time you’ll save by repurposing your content (and how much more value you’ll be able to deliver to your audiences across all your marketing channels)! Which brings us to the final reason why your business needs a podcast: 

6. Optimize Your Time

We’re not here to claim that podcasting is easy, or that launching a new show will lead to instant results. But we do know that starting a podcast is one of the best uses of your time as a business owner, CEO, leader, author, or coach. 

Your time is valuable, and that means you have to pick and choose the places you spend it. But becoming a trustworthy, recognizable face of your brand is absolutely worth that time, and a podcast is an excellent way to achieve that goal.

And here’s the most important caveat: you shouldn’t be doing it on your own. 

If you truly want to optimize your time and see the greatest return on your investment, you need to outsource some of the process to professionals who can handle all the details for you.

To learn more about where to start, listen to our recent series about outsourcing your weaknesses and building an all-star podcast team.