Real-world examples provide a look at what works-and what doesn't-to drive meaningful brand engagement with a business podcast.
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How Podcasts Deliver Meaningful Brand Engagement
Carrie: In the early days of the podcast, the way that we really saw the impact is one, obviously downloads and listens. The bigger indicator was the less quantifiable feedback we were getting from customers, the anecdotal feedback we were getting, through social… the things that we were hearing from people that were being exposed to the podcast around the difference it was making in their lives, the impact it had—because it was really hitting a nerve with people.
When you create a podcast for your business or brand you want to episodes that keeps people listening. But you also have to think about what you hope to accomplish. Do you want to educate? Inspire? Or jumpstart a conversation relevant to your brand?
I’m Gretchen Kilby, a podcast producer and editor and your host for this episode of the Jutecast. In the first part of our Jutecast series on podcasts, we explored why people find this format so engaging that they’re willing to spend a half hour to an hour listening to a podcast. In this episode, we’ll look at the ways brands and businesses are harnessing podcasts to engage with their audience.
Back in 2015, very few brands even considered podcasts as part of their marketing and communications strategy. But Umpqua Bank did. I visited Umpqua’s offices in an old renovated brick and beam building in Portland, Oregon. And there I met Carrie Roso.
Carrie: Hi thanks for coming…
Gretchen: Nice to meet you.
Carrie: Yeah, it’s so great to meet you.
Carrie is Director of Brand Marketing for Umpqua Bank.She’s also the driver behind Umpqua’s podcast “Open Account.”
Carrie Roso: As things became more and more digital over the years and as the mediums changed where consumers were taking their content, we kind of tapped into this medium of podcasting and saw it as a really interesting way to further our connection with our customers and our communities.
At the time, there wasn’t really a template for a personal finance podcast. Roso says Umpqua wanted to position itself as the bank that “does things differently,” so her team didn’t want to go the route of providing financial tips, tricks and tools. Instead they hoped to start conversations.
Carrie Roso: We used to say like it’s easier to talk about what happens in your bedroom than your bank account because people just don’t want to talk about their finances. Right? That, I think, creates lot of stress. It creates a lot of problems. It creates a lot of unknown, like “am I doing this right?”
Open Account excerpt: Hey everyone, I’m Suchin Pak and welcome to Open Account.
With “Open Account,” Roso wanted to stay rooted in storytelling. The focus was not on selling a product.
Carrie Roso: … and then how do you do that in a relevant or in an adjacent space to who you are, which is obviously a bank, and that became people’s stories around money.
Open Account excerpt:Velma grew up in Maryland in the 60s, as the country was beginning its historic journey to desegregate schools.
Carrie Roso: My favorite episode was about a mother and daughter talking about how her mother worked so hard to establish a good amount of real estate and wealth for her daughter and now they’re at this point in their lives where they need to start talking about how do I transfer that to you?
Open Account excerpt:It’s something a lot of us are having to think about as we grow older… how to take care of what our parents have built and …
Carrie Roso: You know it’s a really interesting and powerful story. It also gives families an opportunity to provoke the same kind of conversation that they need to have.
Umpqua’s model of brand relevant storytelling that doesn’t feel salesy is now standard practice for branded podcasts. But many are putting a different spin on things. Take REI:
Excerpt from “Wildfire”: Because the anger that everyone felt towards this fire and the person that started it came from a deeper place than a concern for the health and well-being of the trees themselves.
REI teamed up with Bedrock Filmworks and Pod-Peak to produce the series “Wildfire.” Dane Cardiel, Director of Partnerships at Simplecast--a podcast analytics and hosting platform--worked with REI’s team.
Dane Cardiel: So here you have a brand that says “one of our core missions is reverence toward the environment and nature” and they tied this phenomenon that we’re seeing in the West with wildfires and they’re asking is this a natural thing or is this something that’s driven by larger forces? If so, what are t hsoe forces?
“Wildfire” excerpt: Rather what was under threat was our idea of the Gorge, this place that was once in our minds perfect, pristine and unsullied, as the fire grew…
REI’s podcast network has also released several other podcasts including “Camp Monsters,” a series of campfire stories. Their name is on the podcast logo and is mentioned at the beginning and end of each episode, but that’s it. Cardiel says many businesses with podcasts on his platform are using this approach.
Dane Cardiel: What we’re seeing is brands taking a backseat to the core story or the main thesis of whatever the podcast is they’re producing. Might be subtle brand moments, but beyond that it’s really driving story.
Proctor & Gamble is doing something similar with their series “Harmonize.” The show is about racial bias and how music has served as a catalyst for change.P&G is marketing the podcast as a companion to their “The Talk” campaign, which is focused on having conversations about race in mainstream media.
This trend toward subtler branding doesn’t mean there’s no place in podcasting for more direct talk about a business. Think “Inside Trader Joe’s.” And Cardiel has seen an uptick in businesses creating internal podcasts that some also share with the wider public.
That takes us back to Portland, high up in the west hills on the campus of Oregon Health and Science University. This is where Patrick Holmes and his internal communications staff record and produce “OHSU Week.”
OHSU Week excerpt: Employee benefits are one of the most important aspects in a person’s employment and are often…
A typical episode includes conversations about research, different initiatives at the university, or important information for staff. A key topic recently was open enrollment for health insurance. Holmes’ team produced printed materials, news posts and a short video…
Patrick Holmes: But open enrollment, you know, it’s kind of a complicated topic with benefits changes and trying to understand insurance and all the different options.
So Holmes’ team also recorded a 15 minute podcast interview.
OHSU Week excerpt: Guest: Cleanings and x-rays don’t go towards this max, allowing more room for services that actually do.
Host: Oh.
Guest: So that’s a plus.
Host: Yeah.
Patrick Holmes: This provides an opportunity for people to really hear more of a conversation and hear it explained from an expert in a way that’s maybe a little easier to understand than anything that we could do by trying to condense it down into video or a 300 word written piece.
And Holmes says his listeners are responding to what they hear.
Patrick Holmes: We’ve had people report that after going on the podcast and they talked about a new program that they’re doing or an event they’re having, and people that reached out to them as a result of that. And so that obviously in the end that’s kind of ultimately what we want is people actually getting the information they need and taking action on it.
Across town at Umpqua Bank, I asked Carrie Roso about how she gauges whether a podcast is worthwhile for a business.
Carrie Roso: If you’re a brand trying to decide if a podcast is right for you, you really have to ask yourself if you feel like you have a relevant story to tell. If you feel like this is a medium that you can really add value to that is going to serve your brand well.
Gretchen: I’m just curious, can that travel alongside building your business?
Carrie: Absolutely, I think it’s a great entry to getting some brain cells of our target audience in a really sincere way and will open up the door for us to have deeper conversations later on in their journey with your brand.
Whether you hope to educate, start a conversation or further your mission as a brand, a podcast can be a powerful tool to engage an audience in a meaningful and effective way. People spend a lot of time listening to podcasts and they ways they listen make them a receptive audience without their “ad blocker” defenses up.
So consider if a podcast for your business could be an ideal way to tell a story only you can tell.
I’m Gretchen Kilby, thanks for listening to the Jutecast.