How do you measure the success of a branded podcast?
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” — Albert Einstein
The Project Management Institute defines project success as the project being completed “on time, within budget, and to specification.” But as many marketers know, when it comes to marketing projects, success is really measured by the value the project brings to the organization on an ongoing basis.
If you’ve launched a corporate podcast, you may have achieved success already by PMI’s standards: you’ve created and launched the show on-time and on-budget. But how do you evaluate if the investment was worth it? First step: don’t compare your podcast to the elites of the podcasting world — i.e. Joe Rogan (who supposedly earns $9.6 million per month from his podcast) and Johnny Lee Dumas (about $200K per month). They’re part of the top 1% of celebrity podcasters who tout insurmountable standards for new podcasts. A corporate podcast should not look to podcast industry benchmarks to evaluate its worth, rather to its own internal and industry benchmarks.
Measuring the success of a corporate podcast is not unlike measuring the success of any other marketing initiative or communication channel. Before jumping into metrics and KPIs, you need to first have clearly identified your goals and SMART objectives. Following, it comes down to mattaching those measurable KPIs to your goals and objectives to piecing together the story of how your investment is doing.
Here are some examples:
Goal: Awareness
If your goal is awareness, then your objectives may be along the lines of “Attract 3,000 visitors to our landing pages per month in 2021” or “Gain 10,000 impressions across social media channels in Q1.” In these cases, you will need to use tracking URLs on your podcast profiles and when pointing listeners to your website on the podcast. With those links you can then see how much traffic your podcast is responsible for compared with your other traffic sources. Also measure how many impressions podcast-specific social media posts have earned during your evaluative time period. When awareness is your focus, see the podcast as a magnet for drawing people to your conversion properties, not a conversion property itself.
The number of downloads alone does not translate to business outcomes, unless your sole focus is to earn money through advertising sales (which, of course, are predicated on the number of listeners). If you earn only 300 downloads per episode, but each episode brings 300 people to your website, then your podcast is on the right track.
Goal: Engagement
Engagement with your brand can be measured on and off the podcasting platform. Measuring your podcast reviews and comments can help you understand how people are responding to your podcast and if your content is resonating with them.
But the bigger picture is fostering positive engagement with your brand, not just your podcast. Measure how many people engage with social media posts related to your podcast, how many mentions your podcast earns on the web, and how people interact with podcast-related content on your website. Do you have a podcast-related email newsletter? Measure the open rates and click rates. A standard engagement rate of 1–2% of total impressions is a starting point for reference, but your ideal engagement rate should be dependent on how that engagement leads to conversions. Evaluate the rate that your business needs to earn the goal number of conversions.
Goal: Leads
Leads can be generated in numerous ways with podcasts. Check out our post on How to Win Customers with a Corporate Podcast for the deep-dive. For B2B businesses, your podcast could serve as a conversation starter with prospective clients by having them on the show. Success is measured easily: how many podcast guests do you hope to convert into clients in a set time period? Or measure how many partnerships and sponsorships develop from cross-promotion on your show.
Your podcast could also serve as proof of product/sales content rather than a marketing-specific channel. Have your sales teams or business development team send prospects episodes specific to the prospect’s needs, and measure how often deals are closed after those episodes are sent. If there’s evidence that the podcast-as-a-lead-gen-tool strategy is working, continue to create episodes specific to anticipated client needs.
Goal: Advertising Revenue
Finally, if you do plan to use ads or sponsorships for your show, calculating ROI is straightforward: what’s the revenue generated in ad sales versus the cost of production? But remember: ads will only be effective as long as you continue to attract listeners. So more than anything, ensure that your podcast is consistently delivering value to listeners — and measure how effective your show is in delivering that value by the awareness, engagement and leads generated.
Originally published at https://www.flywheelassociates.com on June 15, 2021.
