Knowing how to start a podcast is essential but understanding how to measure podcast success is crucial. You can’t start a podcast and go to sleep after recording a few episodes; that’s when the real work begins.
Imagine running a podcast ad campaign for a new line of pizza. Upon hearing the ad, you know it scores all good points. It has all of the ingredients of a killer ad -unique, powerful headline, authentic, and over-delivers. No doubt about the success it will record. However, you cannot just take things at face value; you need to be scientific about the success recorded.
We are now far off from “can you measure podcast to “how to measure podcast.” Right now, the growth of the podcast industry has also extended to metrics and tools that can help you understand the impact and reach of your podcast campaigns. We are referring to innovations that are now available, availing insights at all stages of the funnel. Podcasting has attained maturity with numerous tools that match your campaign objective.
All said, how do we measure podcast ad campaign success or failure?
Identify Your Objective (or KPI)
We’ll use our new pizza line as an example. There will be different objectives within the sales funnel. If it’s at the upper funnel, the aim will be to create awareness about the pizza’s taste. At the middle of the funnel, it will be about creating engagement that can lead to taking action. While at the lower funnel, it’s all about converting the awareness and engagement into conversion.
Identifying the KPI will determine the tool to use in measuring the campaign. It is also pertinent to state that no single metric can measure all of the three stages of the funnel—the objective need to be matched to the measuring tool.
Choose a Podcast Advertising Method
Considering the remarkable growth trajectory that podcasting has enjoyed, it is usually too good to be true for most advertisers. According to Forbes, there are four ways to measure podcast campaigns; promo codes, vanity URLs, surveys, and pixels.
However, to be accurate in your measurement, you need to adopt one or two methods. The results will then be analyzed according to your business model, the KPI, and technical capabilities.
Metrics For Measuring Podcast at All Stages of the Funnel
At this stage of the podcasting industry, there’s no precise module for knowing the podcasts that will yield the best results. However, there are still metrics that can be deployed to see the impact of your podcast ad campaigns;
Downloads Per Episode
Downloads are the total number of unique downloads per podcast episode received to smartphones, computers, or tablets. The total downloads per episode are available to podcast hosts.
To arrive at the actual figure of downloads per episode, it’s best to wait 30 to 60 days after the episode is aired.
Exclusive Offer Code
It is believed that offer codes, trials, and discount incentives to measure the success of podcast ad campaigns. The exclusive offer code is read on air by the podcast cost, show notes, or welcoming page.
The podcast host gives the listeners a promo code and instructions on using it. This will serve as a medium to measure podcast ad campaigns.
User Engagement
This is another metric you can deploy in measuring the success of your podcast ad campaign. It can be in bounce rate, time on site, and average pages per visit.
In adopting user engagement in measuring podcast ad campaigns, you’ll need to embrace the gestalt principle, which states that the whole is greater than the sum of its part. In simple terms, an individual metric isn’t sufficient; you need to consider all the metrics as a whole.
Wrap Up On How to Measure Podcast Ad Campaign
How to measure podcast campaigns may be entirely novel, but time-tested and proven tools can be adopted within the space. Even at the speed at which the podcast industry is growing, more devices will soon be developed for impact assessment.
Know that podcasting has proven to be an effective medium to promote a brand at every stage of the marketing funnel; send this piece to a business owner who needs this.
