3 Sound Strategies for Audio Content Marketing
Have you heard?
Listener-friendly content formats like podcasts, audiobooks, and sound snippets enhance the emotional appeal of your stories and strengthen marketing performance.
Think about it. How often do you get your audienceâs full attention?
âDuring your workday, youâre getting pitched and pinged on your devices while youâre in âdeflect and move on mode,ââ says Jeanniey Walden, CMO of Rite Aid and host of the popular Liftoff Journeys podcast.
âBut when listening to audio, whether a podcast or an audiobook, you are most likely in a transitionary or relaxed state. At that point, itâs just you and the content.â
Youâll need to develop a strategy to rise above the noise of a crowded content marketplace and set realistic expectations of the value audio can contribute.Â
Here are some expert perspectives and advice for building content and marketing strategies that include podcasting, sonic branding, and sound snippets.
How to decide whether to launch a brand podcast
According to EMARKETERâs June 2024Â industry forecast, U.S. podcast listeners will tune in for an average of 50 minutes daily. Â
âHumans tend to love to multitask, and audio is the most passive way to learn and consume content,â says A. Lee Judge, co-founder and CMO of audio and video production agency Content Monsta. âYou can listen to the podcast while walking or doing daily chores.â
And you can repurpose podcast assets, which extends your production investmentâs value. For example, you can edit a lengthy conversation into short snippets for use on social media. Or you can pull verbal testimonials from the show transcript for reuse on websites and in marketing campaigns.
âThe podcast is not the end product. The podcast is a source of content,â Lee says.Â
Still, a podcast may not be an ideal fit for every marketing goal.
âIf you have an existing but passive audience or a singular premise you wish to own publicly (similar to what a book can do for you), then you may want to launch a show,â says Jay Acunzo, host of the How Stories Happen podcast and co-founder of Creator Kitchen.
On the other hand, a podcast may be a poor choice if audience growth is your primary goal. âThe podcast itself doesnât spread like other forms of content. The host must go out and promote the show, like an actor with a film or author with a book,â Jay says.
To create a successful show, Jay recommends investing in these critical elements:
- A well-developed, perspective-conveying premise
- An irresistible format that gets people to stick around through the end of the episode
- Trustworthy, entertaining talent
Just donât expect to compete with celebrity podcasters like Steven Bartlett or Anna Faris.
Lee Judge explains, âIf youâre selling industrial door hinges, your entire market may only be 100,000 people.â
When gauging the marketing impact of your podcasts, donât rely solely on traditional podcast metrics. For example, one of Leeâs clients reported a noticeable increase in inbound inquiries, though her podcast analytics data didnât reflect this successful outcome.
âIf she stuck with what her podcast analytics indicated, she would have thought the show wasnât working. But when people began telling her, âI heard you here. I heard you there.â She knew it was working,â Lee says.
If you lack the buy-in or budget to host a show, consider pitching company thought leaders as potential guests on other industry podcasts â or sharing your content as a show sponsor.
Should you invest in sonic branding?
When certain sounds or musical triggers make your audience automatically think of your company, thatâs sonic branding at work.
âSonic branding is a system of strategically crafted sound that makes people feel something about a brand or experience,â says John Taite, EVP of global brand partnerships at Made Music Studio. âWe often say that people think about what they see, but they feel what they hear.â
Thereâs real marketing power in an instantly recognizable sound.
âItâs a subconscious memory trigger that kicks in when youâre making a purchase decision â be it a car or a candy bar,â John says. âEvery piece of branded sound or music makes a long-term impression on a consumer â from advertising to social content to activations.â
John should know: His company is behind Cricket Wirelessâs signature beep, Nature Valleyâs âcall of the crunchâ whistle, and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch âCinnadust!â sound.
Whether youâre a B2B or B2C brand, large or small, your organization is probably making a sound. But unless itâs deliberate, itâs just noise, says Roscoe Williamson, global creative strategy & innovation director at MassiveMusic, which creates music and soundscapes for brands.
âYou would never just have a random logo, random type fonts, or a random visual identity, right? If youâre not thinking about sound in those same terms, youâre missing out [on potential branding advantages],â Roscoe says.
Roscoe cites his teamâs work with TikTok as one of his favorite examples of the power of sonic branding:
âTikTok had a problem with off-site brand attribution. When people [shared] a TikTok film to another site, like Instagram or Reddit, research showed that people werenât attributing that content to TikTok as much as the brand would like,â he explains.
His team created the now ubiquitous sonic logo that appears on any TikTok content pushed off-site â in other words, onto millions of films every week â which is now the signature sound of TikTok.
Sonic branding includes using sound for social media touchpoints, audio advertising, in-person experiences (like trade shows or in-store shopping), and the product sounds like alerts when a task is complete or an error has been made.
Choosing the right sound palette for your brand starts with creating guardrails for what you do and donât want to sound like.
â[Those decisions] should align with what your brand stands for â either its values or its tone of voice or promise,â Roscoe says. âJust having that point of view and being consistent will put those brands ahead of others [that] donât even think about it.â
But, when sonic branding isnât taken seriously or done right, it can damage consumersâ perception of your brand. âJust ask one of the 15 brands on-air right now using the sound of a doorbell,â says John Taite of Made Music Studio. âYou canât stand out from the clutter when you are the clutter.â
Add audio to existing content
If podcasts and sonic branding initiatives arenât strategic fits, other approaches are worth exploring. For example, you can use AI automation to efficiently create sound content or incorporate audio features into your existing stories.
Ann Handley, author, speaker, and the worldâs first âChief Content Officer,â sees the ease of working with the latest tech as âan opportunity to use audio to create a fuller, richer customer experience and deeper audience connection.â
Brands can also give their Reels, TikTok videos, and text-based content an audible upgrade with the help of AI-generated audio overlays.
âAI is great at voicing factual information. If Iâve created a blog article, itâs useful to have an AI voice read it just like itâs written because my goal is to [help my audience] consume the facts on the page,â Content Monstaâs Lee Judge says.Â
Lee says AI can be a good substitute for human talent if you lack sufficient resources. He uses this analogy: âAI is like a stand-in recording. You can enjoy watching recorded music videos, but it isnât like being at the concert.â
Even so, AI can help in a different way. Â
âAI can translate audio into different languages and make it available to global populations in ways that it hasnât been done before,â Rite Aidâs Jeanniey Walden points out.Â
Let your audience hear your brand voice
As you prepare your strategy, consider turning up the volume to invite people to gather around and listen. Podcasts, sonic logos, and adding music and sound to existing content assets help deepen relationships.
Remember: âAudio is about resonance, not reach,â Jay Acunzo says. âFocus on activating existing audiences and turning them into superfans.â
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