One is the Loneliest Number: Creating a Branded Podcast Network

So you’ve completed your first branded podcast. If you’ve used the power of podcasting right, you’ve shared the story of your brand or its values through audio. However, most brands consist of diverse values, objectives, and viewpoints. This means that most brands have more than one interesting story to share. 

Simply put – if yours is a multifaceted brand, it requires a multifaceted medium; audio is that medium. 

So, how can you use audio to serve every facet of your brand instead of just one? 

Enter the branded podcast network 

A branded podcast network is a collection of podcasts from a brand or company that strategically targets multiple demographics with specific needs. Essentially, by way of a strategic branded podcast network, you will be able to match your brand objectives with the right audiences. 

A branded podcast network is the way to go for you if your brand is: 

• Multinational or has global audiences
• Offers multiple product or service categories
• Has several teams or departments looking to achieve their own mission-critical goals or KPIs
• A nonprofit or NGO driving an international cause with global reach, donors, and areas of impact

A branded podcast network offers you these advantages, to name a few: 

• Diversity for your content portfolio
• Immersive storytelling within reach
• Increase brand visibility
• Honor your audiences
• Increased opportunity for collaboration
  

Diversify your content portfolio 

When has putting all your eggs in one basket ever been a good thing? A Branded Podcast Network not only drives your cross-functional goals, but can also significantly increase your brand’s number of customer touchpoints by adding long-form, short-form, and microcontent to your existing marketing pipeline. These touchpoints help with audience retention by giving you new ways to engage with your current audience and with audience acquisition by bringing your brand, mission, and story to new platforms. 

Moreover, a branded podcast network engages listeners and targets demographics outside of the audio space. Audio content from across the network can be repurposed across your newsletter, website, social media, blogs, and events. Trust us, your copywriters and social media team will thank you. 

Immersive storytelling within reach

Budgets for video content can be astronomical. Creating and showcasing a narrative that engages the customer, on video, is not always for companies with mid-to-high budgets. Podcasts, on the other hand, offer an immense diversity of audio formats at a fraction of the cost. The accessible nature of the medium, both for creators and consumers, opens up limitless opportunities for brand storytelling. 

Increased brand visibility

Creating a branded podcast network does wonders for your SEO and search engine real-estate. With more backlinks, content, and coverage on your collaborators’ platform, your brand becomes more visible.  A podcast network can also open up audiences on listening apps such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Pocket Casts to you; an audience segment that might have otherwise remained completely untapped. 

Honor your audiences

Any entity with diverse products, services, or sub-brands has a wide breadth of KPIs and targets to hit. Say one of your brands is interested in reaching self-employed Gen-Zs who are Latinx, while another speaks to Millennials who identify as men and work in corporate sales. These are two very different demographics with different content preferences, attention spans, and narrative needs. It’s highly unlikely that one podcast can successfully serve both audience segments with equal fervor.

Creating multiple podcasts as part of your branded podcast network allows you to access and engage with each product, service, or sub-brand’s target audience successfully with content tailored to them. 

Increased opportunities for collaboration 

For companies that operate in different verticals, a branded podcast network offers opportunities to collaborate with subject matter experts, influencers, and companies in different spaces. By way of inviting guests, telling shared stories, and fostering opportunities for cross-promotion, a branded podcast network allows you to reach new audiences and to give back to your audience and collaborators by fostering new connections among them. 

Additionally, a branded podcast network also increases opportunities for collaboration internally. For larger brands, where two departments may not typically have opportunities to interact, adding a podcast by and for employees can be a vehicle of shared storytelling. 

Okay, so these sound great. But you’re asking, is this even for me? And if so, how do I get started?

I’ll have what they’re having!

Here are some of our favorite examples of brands that are taking full advantage of a podcast network:

A strong branded podcast network starts out with a well-thought-out broad audio strategy for your brand. That’s where we come in. We’re currently working with major multinational brands to create research-driven and data-backed audio strategies that build a strong foundation for the slate of podcasts we then produce for these brands.

Get in touch with us to start the conversation.