How to Build Branded Podcasts with Kaspersky
One of the greatest challenges businesses face in the marketing arena is that it is crowded out there. Audiences are sophisticated, and businesses must compete in a highly selective attention economy.Now, podcasting already offers the heavy-weight advantage of portable consumption. Unlike video media, it is easy to consume podcasts while driving, washing the dishes, and exercising. So, how do you leverage podcasting and ensure that you make a splash rather than end up as just a drop in the ocean?We joined Susi O'Neill, Head of B2B Brand Content at Kaspersky, to find out. Kaspersky is one of the largest privately-owned cybersecurity companies. With over 46 offices worldwide, Kaspersky is well known for its security products, such as antivirus software.How Does Podcasting Work within Kaspersky’s Communications Strategy?Kaspersky’s Brand Activation Studio began producing podcasts several years ago. Susi explains that they started out with a traditional interview format in a show called Transatlantic. The show featured hosts from the UK and the US and presented current issues and ideas, and it built up an excellent following – setting Kaspersky up as thought leaders.With this experience behind them, the Brand Activation Studio started to innovate. Susi explains that Kaspersky was aiming for an extremely high bar. Their video production is, quite literally, at the award-winning level. So, when Kaspersky set out to innovate in the podcasting space, they were aiming for the same.Susi’s team created a novel method to deliver the Kaspersky brand message with their show Fast Forward. They evolved their podcasting strategy into an audio-documentary, story-telling approach. Kaspersky commissioned a popular British radio broadcaster to create a series examining the history, present, and future of networking technologies. This audio documentary covers, in-depth, topics such as our interactions with technology from supermarkets to the effect of business in space.For the listeners, the outcome of this effort is a collection of high-quality, book-markable audio documentaries hosted by PodBean. For the internal team, it was a gamble that paid off. Until they had the data, there was some tension with regards to whether the podcast would divert their audience away from their successful video channel "Tomorrow Unlocked" with its 10,000-strong following. But, Susi’s instincts proved justified, as adding the pre-recorded podcast channel grew their overall audience.So, What Are the Benefits of Corporate Podcasting?As with tools like YouTube, PodBean provides user analytics data to allow corporate teams to analyze the success of their shows. When Kaspersky compared the dwell time on their video content with their podcasting content, they saw a significant improvement, with the minimum average dwell time on the audio channel coming in at 5 minutes or more. This is significantly more than the video consumption rates, and remember, this is for a corporate team that wins awards for their video material!Not only has Kaspersky succeeded in creating a longer connection time with their audience – also they succeeded in reaching an older target demographic. With this target group already tuned into radio, it seems that the transition to their adopting the podcasting format has been particularly smooth.Importantly for the Kaspersky team, not only is podcasting a flexible medium for consumers on the go. It is also flexible for those involved in its production. Susi explains that even pre-pandemic, pinning down high-value experts for two days of video shooting was tricky. The video medium requires a significant time investment to do well. While podcasting, even at the high-quality production end that Kaspersky produces, means asking for just an hour or two of that expert’s time – in a studio near them.Is There Any Take-Home Advice?One of the incredible assets of a tool like PodBean is that anyone can start podcasting on a cost-effective budget. Not everyone has a commissioning pot the size of a commercial enterprise such as Kaspersky’s. So, what is the take-home advice that fits any budget?Susi recommends focus. Be entertaining, educational, or informative; choose and aim for one. That recommendation to focus goes further. Don't feel that you need to commit to high-volume or even a fixed pattern of releases. Rather, consider a fixed-length series of high-quality items. And, Susi even has a tip for getting the budget released; call it a pilot internally if you need to get it past the boss!Susi’s wealth of advice is available on our “Sticky Listening” article for those with a budget to spend. If that is not you, don’t fret, she also has cost-saving tips: consider reaching out to those not-so-busy-right-now musicians out there. They combine the skills required to provide you with brand-relevant novel music for your podcast and to provide your podcast with high-quality post-production.
