Diving into the world of podcast advertising can be exciting! Unlike any other medium, podcasting allows for a more authentic ad experience. Podcasters care deeply about their audience and the brands that they choose to partner with. In order to run a successful ad campaign, it’s imperative that you, as a brand, provide your partner with all the tools they need to craft a phenomenal ad.
How to Craft Effective Ad Copy
Having thoughtful ad copy will help to create a stellar Host-Read Ad. Copy that provides clear guidelines only serves to help your partner podcaster record a truly wonderful ad. You want to ensure that your ad copy includes information on your brand as well as your products/services, that it has a clear call-to-action, and that it’s succinct.
Share information about your brand. The introduction of the ad should include some quick information about your brand and what you can offer to listeners. Include any value propositions, key brand elements, brand slogans, etc. that really highlight who are and what you do. It’s also a great opportunity to share exciting updates or launches that are coming up for your company.
After the brief introduction, allow the podcast host to provide their own insights and thoughts on your brand and products/services. Give them the chance to share their personal experience with your brand!
Be clear in your call-to-actions. Not only should you be straightforward in explaining how your product/service can improve the lives of their listeners, but you should also be clear-cut on how the listeners can find and use your product/services. Provide strong and easy-to-follow next steps in your CTAs (call-to-actions). Have the podcaster repeat the action(s) listeners need to take at least twice in the ad. And always be sure to request that the podcaster spell out your brand’s name to prevent any confusion with the listeners.
Keep it simple. It’s best practice to not overcomplicate the ad copy and keep it to just one page. Make it easy for podcasters to pronounce your brand name and products by spelling it out phonetically in the copy. This helps to reduce the need for retakes! Do what you can to make your ad copy easy to understand and easy to share.
These best practices are key to creating an effective Host-Read ad. But copy isn’t the only thing needed to make a killer ad.
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Prep Your Podcasters with Resources
For your partner podcaster to truly understand your brand and product/service, you need to be able to share a breadth of information with them. This not only allows them to write supplemental parts of the ad copy but to make it a genuinely authentic read. Don’t be afraid to give them videos, slides, etc. to help them get to know you and your product/service.
Create and share resources. An excellent way for your partner podcasters to learn about your brand is to create and share resources they can look through. We recommend creating videos that really cut to the heart of your brand and product/service. Give them information on who you are, why your product/service is unique, why customers love it, details on how it’s made, etc. Really anything that provides further insight into what makes you, and your product/service, you!
Give ‘em a sample! One of the best ways to understand a product or service is to actually use it. Give your podcast partners a taste of what you offer with a sample. Not only does this give them insight into your product/service, but it also gives them the ability to craft a personalized story all about it. Real-world experience is hard to beat!
Have a partnership mentality. We advise our podcasters to treat the brand as a partner and encourage our advertisers to do the same. The honest-to-pod truth is that ad reads perform best when there’s a shared partnership mentality between the two parties. Trust your podcast partner to provide their listeners with a thoughtful message, and they’ll trust you to give them everything they need to deliver the perfect ad read.
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Feedback and Future Collabs
Once the campaign has concluded, you have the opportunity to provide your partner podcaster with feedback, and vice versa! Our Advertising team is happy to help coordinate feedback between the both of you. Providing the podcaster with feedback is an invaluable way to help them grow. A part of having a partnership mentality is the ability to give thoughtful feedback to your partner, and to keep an open mind when receiving feedback, too.
Tell them what you liked, and maybe what needs to be worked on, so the next campaign can perform even better! Your partner podcaster won’t know how to improve if they aren’t given the right information to do so. The same applies to you, as well! You won’t know how to create better ad copy or know how to craft more helpful resources without first asking for a bit of feedback.
It can seem intimidating when starting your first podcast Host-Read ad campaign, but hopefully, with our help you feel more confident! The key is to go in with a partnership mentality, craft a compelling ad-read, provide informational resources, and give feedback when needed.
We can’t wait to help you to run your first successful ad read!
