7 Podcast Advertising Best Practices for Successful Brand Awareness
Podcast advertising can be an incredibly effective way to reach audiences. Think of listeners who get their comedy fix at the gym, a news deep dive on the drive home, or into a true crime case poolside; they’re getting their entertainment needs met without having to look at a screen. Filling in the gaps that other media leave behind, podcasts are found by many listeners to be more trustworthy and authentic. And for brands, this medium brings plenty of opportunity for precise targeting that other media lacks.
Thanks to podcasts’ incredible reach—135M Americans monthly and counting—podcast ads can be a powerful deliverer of brand awareness goals. Before you use this goldmine of a medium to aid your upper-funnel objectives, keep these seven best practices in mind.
1. Get the Lay of the Land
Before planning your campaign, it’s essential to understand the profile of your target audience, from their interests, to associated markets and regions, and more. Additionally, ask yourself, what’s your current share of voice? This is where a comprehensive marketing persona comes in handy.
To get the most bang for your buck, fight the urge to draw from a hat when deciding whether to let your ads air on a podcast genre or network. Knowing your audience and being more selective with your targeting brings a lot more ROI than merely blasting your message to every listener out there (cough, also known as AM/FM’s mass-market approach). For example, a fitness apparel brand may consider airing ads on sports or wellness podcasts and move away from advertising on true crime or politics shows.
2. Make It Measurable
Speaking of measurement, it’s critical to success in any marketing campaign. So before you press that big, red “Launch” button, consider your goals early on.
Ask yourself:
For X amount of money, what would be an acceptable ROAS?
What would poor performance look like, and what would be stellar?
Identifying your podcast ad objectives allows you to better measure success, determine ad types, and craft more compelling creatives.
Of course, no process is without its flaws, and podcast advertising can be a bit trickier when it comes to measurement. While channels like paid search ads can drive fast conversions, seeing results with podcast ads can take some time. And that’s especially true when what’s being measured is brand awareness. Fortunately, there are creative ways to connect the dots between your ad spend and awareness KPIs, such as brand recall and message association.
Consider creating landing pages specifically for podcast listeners who’ve heard your ad or unique promo codes to track purchases or form fills. Once the ad campaign launches, you can even measure share of voice against your pre-campaign numbers to monitor for directional or, hopefully, significant lift.
3. Get Creative with Your Creative
It’s easier said than done, but your ad creative should be, well, creative. To increase brand awareness in a sea of competing voices, make your ad resonant and memorable. That way, listeners will be more likely to take an ad-inspired action when the appropriate time comes. Podcast listeners are some of the most engaged audiences, especially as they’re prone to binge-listening, but even they will tune out an ad that’s boring or overly salesy. Keep these tips in your back pocket:
Start off with a strong hook
Opt for a conversational tone and voice
Focus on one to two key points in your ad
And don’t be afraid to mix things up—podcast shows and networks have various options to make your campaign stand out. Choose from ad formats like announcer-read and host-read ads and select lengths from 15-, 30-, 45-seconds, and beyond.
These tips were on full display in a previous case study of ours. We teamed up with DoorDash for a campaign that highlighted their offerings and built excitement for listeners. Using a podcast announcer-read ad, in addition to a streaming audio ad, we kept it simple with a stripped back ad that focused on the announcer’s voice and messaging. Playing on common, everyday moments like food cravings and needing a stain remover—all of which call for a quick delivery—the ad saw a notable +70% incremental reach from podcasts.
4. Make the Perfect Pitch
You’ve no doubt heard some of those timeless marketing maxims—how the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing, how the loudest voice in the room might not get heard, and more. If you were to boil those down to a single truth, it’s that overt promotion isn’t always best.
To aid brand awareness, be subtle with your podcast ad. Be informal and intimate rather than formulaic or disconnected. Create mini-narratives or even sequential spots that tell a story. With the help of the preliminary research you conducted before the campaign began, consider your target audience and their current problems, goals, and values.
5. Leverage the Trust Factor
Consumers crave authenticity, and they’ll tune out or skip ads that don’t come across as genuine. One of the unique things (among marketing channels) about podcast advertising is that, essentially, you’re marketing in an environment of trust. Podcasts receive more trust from their audiences when compared to other channels:
23x more than social media
Nine times more than traditional TV
Almost seven times more than online/ streaming video
Over four times more than AM/FM radio
Use these stats to your advantage. Host reads are especially associated with credibility, personality, and style, delivering a truly unique message that ties in seamlessly with the overall show and episode. Ask yourself, would you rather hear a LUXE Bidet ad from Conan or a voice actor following a script? Many podcast hosts will deliver the talking points and brand message you lay out in a way that the audience appreciates—after all, no one knows the audience better than them.
6. Turn Up the Volume
When we conducted a meta-analysis of 170 brand awareness studies, a common theme emerged: Increased message frequency drives the most lift. For consumers with over four exposures, there was a significant increase in almost every metric: Ad awareness, message association, product favorability, and intent.
Humans tend to better remember things with repetition, and ads might not have taken root on the first try. But remember, you don’t necessarily have to repeat the same ad. Another version or a continuation of the story you’re trying to tell might be even more effective. Whichever route you choose, turning up the frequency is a surefire way to increase your podcast ad campaign's brand awareness and success potential.
7. Optimize, Optimize, Optimize
While “Practice, practice, practice” is a recommendation as old as time, diligent optimization is what it takes to maximize ROI and really achieve success. Among different ad types, creatives, and placements, there’s a combination somewhere that works best. While longer mid-roll ads tend to be more effective, you might find a better ROAS on shorter pre-roll or post-roll spots. Consider significant differences in how well a message resonates based on a listener’s demographics and interests. And don’t forget about seasonality. All of these factors determine where you might place more emphasis and vice versa. Good thing we did all that prep and research in the beginning, right?
Ready to Boost Brand Awareness via Podcast Advertising?
Podcast advertising can easily, effectively, and measurably help you establish brand awareness with your target consumers. By taking the time to get things right before you launch, crafting compelling creatives, and relentlessly measuring and refining, your campaign will reach its full potential.
SiriusXM Media amplifies your message across some of the world’s most respected networks, hosts, and shows in the business. With a reach of one in two podcast listeners in the US, the largest ad-supported audience in audio, advanced targeting functionality, and more, we can maximize the impact of your next campaign. Let’s talk.
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