5 Reasons Why Your Brand Should Create a Podcast Series for Healthcare Professionals (HCPs)

Recently, there has been an eruption in the popularity of podcasts around the globe. Though some may consider it just an audio-based platform for the opinionated, it has opened a range of possibilities for content creators and brands within healthcare. In this article, we will list five reasons why your brand needs a podcast series for healthcare professionals (HCPs). 

As a brand, you have a story, whether you know it or not. It could be from your company’s founding to its current situation, its mission statement or its drive to improve population health. It can be difficult to communicate this to potential customers, and podcasting can be a great tool for this. 

Initially, podcasting was reserved for the more ‘tech-savvy’ among us or those within certain niches, but recently, it has gathered attention for its ability to connect and build relationships with customers. If you’re still not convinced that podcasts are a useful outlet for your marketing efforts, here are some reasons which may change your mind.

1. The podcast industry is rapidly expanding 

Within the podcasting sphere, there are 900,000 active podcasts and 40,000 new shows appearing every week ¹, this gives podcasting a major place within audio marketing.  

Podcasting enables brands to reach a global audience, allows an intimate connection with their listeners ² and can be a brilliant way to present educational content.  

It is not just a growth of shows that is increasing but also the growth of listeners. Edison research ³ noted that podcast listenership has increased from 7% to 22% amongst the population in North America. 

2. Build intimate relationships 

Podcasts are a powerful tool in helping to increase brand awareness and allowing you to talk to HCPs directly.  

You can do this organically by providing content that appeals to their interests and that HCPs would find useful, without coming across as overly commercialised.  

This is particularly important as people are inundated (and often irritated) with online advertisements – podcasts are a more discreet form of marketing. They can offer a break from the norm whilst allowing your brand’s true voice to be heard.  

Podcasting also allows your brand to reach new audiences while solidifying existing connections. 

3. Marketing with podcasts works 

Edison research ³ showed that when compared to more traditional marketing, podcasting had a massive potential to increase conversion and engagement. 

The data ⁴ suggested that 93% of people who start a podcast listen to most of the episode; on the other hand, in business-related videos of 30 minutes or longer the cumulative completion rate was only 14%. 

In a survey of 300,000 podcast listeners, Midroll ⁵ found that 71% visited the sponsors’ website and 62% considered buying something advertised. Brands often focus on video however podcast episodes are just as convenient and accessible and have much less direct competition (for now!).  

Surveys ⁶ have shown that podcasts are often consumed when an individual is doing an activity where they are not usually exposed to advertisements such as doing jobs around the house, driving, exercising, cooking or working. 

4. Podcasts allow for you to stay top of HCP’s minds 

Historically, brands have offered to host or sponsor events, allowing them to be considered as thought leaders whilst supporting continuing professional education (CPD).  

Podcasts allow brands the unique opportunity to own a particular space, especially if they create interesting and compelling content around that topic. 

Podcasts allow brands to control the way they are perceived by others. In one BBC study ⁶ it showed that when the word “innovative” was mentioned 12 times during an episode, the study participants were more likely to refer to the podcast sponsor as “innovative”. This is an incredible example of the impact of this type of messaging.

5. Podcast listeners are engaged 

Compared to other groups of individuals, podcast listeners are more active on at least one social media channel (94%) compared to non-podcast listeners (81%) ⁶.  

On the social media channels, podcast listeners are more likely to follow brands they listen to, thereby making your social media marketing increase its reach. 

In conclusion, podcasting is a vital tool within brand-driven storytelling. Podcasting allows you to tell your story, build a deeper relationship with HCPs and provide them with useful content. 

At the very least, based on the figures presented, we can see that podcasting is here to stay and will be an important part of individual’s content consumption in the future. 

References:

1. Winn R (2021) Podcast Stats & Facts (New Research From Apr 2021) [online]. Available at: https://www.podcastinsights.com/podcast-statistics/. [Accessed on 11/08/2022].
2. Goodrich P (2018) ‘Intimacy plus’: Is that what makes podcasts so popular? [online]. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46470428. [Accessed on 11/08/2022].
3. Edison Research (2019) The Podcast Consumer 2019 [online].  Available at: http://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Edison-Research-Podcast-Consumer-2019.pdf. [Accessed on 11/08/2022].
4. Marketing Charts (2018) B2B Video Completion Rates Are Improving [online]. Available at: https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/business-to-business-104789. [Accessed on 11/08/2022].
5. Kim L. (2015). 5 Reasons Your Business Needs to be Podcasting [online]. Available from: https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/5-reasons-your-business-needs-to-be-podcasting.html. [Accessed on 11/08/2022].
6. BBC Media Centre (2019) Audio: Activated – new BBC Global News study reveals unique effectiveness of branded podcasts [online]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/worldnews/2019/audio-activated. [Accessed on 11/08/2022].