5 Creative Best Practices for Winning Podcast Ads

Thanks to factors like brand recall, trustworthiness, a growing audience, and others, podcast ads are powerfully effective. Or, at least they can be, when done right. 

No universal algorithm exists to describe how to construct podcast ad creative that will get attention and boost sales. But the tips below can increase your chances of producing a great ad—one that will place your brand favorably in the spotlight and drive tangible results for your business. 

But first…

Why Are Podcast Ads So Successful?

Podcasts are relatively new compared to the rest of the digital marketing landscape. Still, podcast advertising has already won the hearts of many brands and businesses, just as the medium has won over listeners in every cohort. Here are some of the reasons they deliver results:

Podcasts are considered genuine and trusted. For listeners, podcasts stand out in terms of their sincerity. People remark that this medium is 23x more authentic than social media, and almost every second listener believes podcasters to be more genuine than other public figures. Advertisers can use this credibility to their advantage when promoting their brand, products, and services.

Listeners actually don’t mind hearing ads. Many people know that ads help finance their favorite shows and creators, so there is less ad avoidance. In fact, 85% of listeners say that they don’t mind hearing any type of podcast ad.

Precise targeting to maximize ROI. Podcast networks offer multiple ways to target and reach your ideal audience. Businesses can target listeners by geography, demographic, predictive behaviors, and more. It’s also possible to target listeners of topics relevant to your business or exclude placement that doesn’t align with your brand.

What Are the Different Types of Podcast Ads?

Podcast advertising platforms such as the SiriusXM Podcast Network offer multiple formats and placements to choose from. Or, you can mix and match. Usually, podcast ads come in 15, 30, or 60-second segments, can be positioned before, after, or during an episode, and can incorporate extras such as background music, visual components, and even video. Before you jump into creating your first podcast ad campaign, let’s look at the two main types of podcast ads.

Host Reads

A host-read ad is delivered by the podcasters themselves and typically sounds like an organic part of the program. Leveraging the podcast host and the trusted relationship they’ve built with their listener base for your brand message, the ad will match the style and general feel of the program and seem the least intrusive. In many cases, the hosts can choose to keep the ad conversational, use their own words, and add in their personal thoughts and experiences, which all leads to a natural ad experience for the audience.

Announcer Reads

This type of ad involves hired voice talent that will pre-record your message. Choosing the announcer allows your brand to find a voice that will feel the most authentic and resonate with your audience, or you can have your podcast advertising partner locate voice talent on your behalf. Announcer-read ads are a powerful way to scale your campaign across different shows in the network and ensure your message gets heard by a vast pool of people while remaining consistent. 

Brand Reads

You can also bring or develop your own ad content to play in the podcast space.

5 Tips for Creating Podcast Ads that Drive Impact and Resonate

Podcast advertising can become an essential piece of your overall marketing mix. But creating just any ad isn’t enough. Your ad has to be great. We listen to a lot of audio ads. Based on our extensive research and experience, here are five best practices for podcast ads that connect with your audience and achieve solid results.

1. Know Your Audience

With precise targeting capabilities, podcast advertising can allow businesses to reach the right audience at the right time. But who’s the right listener? Choosing suitable shows or genres, selecting voice talent, and creating the right message depends on your customer persona. By knowing what they listen to, value, and are interested in, tailor your message to resonate best with your intended audience.

2. Hook Them at Hello

According to our research in partnership with UC San Francisco, it takes just two seconds for the brain to understand it’s hearing an ad and to decide whether to continue listening. That means the first two seconds can determine whether your potential customer will listen to your message or skip it altogether. When creating a podcast ad, make sure it can capture their attention from the very first moments.

3. Keep It Real

Podcasts are a media type where the audience can develop a closer connection with the host. In fact, more than two in three listeners feel a personal bond with podcasters. Successful podcast advertising should leverage this intimacy by keeping ads as genuine as possible. Avoid overly salesy, way-too-scripted copy, and ensure your creatives lean into the podcast, its topic, and its audience as much as possible.

4. Stay Conversational

Remember those overly-excited ads from traditional radio decades back (and now, if we’re honest)? They’d probably sound quite jarring today. Messaging that sounds natural and casual is an important best practice when creating an ad that will catch the attention of potential clients. Genuine connections with listeners is one of the medium’s greatest strengths, so don’t ruin it with an ad that feels out of place. Keep the language close to how people speak in real life. Think shorter sentences, contractions, avoiding technical jargon, and so on.

5. Don’t Be Intrusive

Podcasts are one of the more intimate and personal forms of media. You can meet your audience when they are commuting, running errands, or heading off to bed. But, with great power comes great responsibility—if an ad is not executed properly, has the wrong tone, or is too disruptive, a listener is likely to tune it out or skip it. An ad that wins the audience’s hearts should be mindful of where, how, and when it may be heard. 

Creating Best-in-Class Podcast Ads is Easy with Studio Resonate

Producing great podcast ads that drive results is a sort of science. It requires choosing the right voice, time, audience research, and knowledge of how to build a connection with your listeners. Studio Resonate, or in-house audio creative agency, can help your business with all of that and so much more.

Studio Resonate is an award-winning creative agency that knows everything about audio and how to use its power to your brand’s benefit. From the early days of campaign planning, to creating a sonic brand strategy, to measurement and refinement, we can guide and assist your business every step of the way.

Get Your Podcast Ads in Front of Your Target Audience 

If you’re relatively new to the world of podcast advertising, a knowledgeable partner by your side might be what you need. Ready to create an ad that will captivate the hearts of your audience? Let’s talk.

Learn More About Podcast Advertising