Podcasts 201: the importance of an intentional podcast strategy

Podcasts have become a rapidly growing player in the media industry and larger culture, with company executives, celebrities and even presidential candidates all willing to have sit downs with hosts. They’ve also played a role in pivotal culture moments, like Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ appearance on Call Her Daddy, opting for a friendly sit down to reach young, female middle-class voters after opting for more casual interviews on talk shows and podcasts through her 3-month run. Most recently, Taylor Swift’s joined fiancée Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast to announce her 12^th studio album, setting record viewership levels on YouTube.

Why podcasts are standing out

Podcasts offer an increased sense of accessibility, variety and connection with their audiences. Podcast listeners also tend to be extremely loyal and engaged with their preferred shows, tuning in each week and often maintaining listenership due to the host’s personality and interview style. The ability to constantly add fresh voices and perspectives to each episode adds variety and keeps listeners interested.

Podcasts also tend to be hosted on more publicly accessible forums like YouTube, social media or music apps. Research from Owl & Co. shared that in 2024, the global podcast industry generated $7.3 billion in sales, nearly twice as much as most prior estimates. This shows that not only has the podcast industry earned rightful space in the media market, but growth is set to continue beyond expectations.

Many companies have jumped on the podcast bandwagon without pausing to consider how the PR approach should differ from other channels. How do podcasts fit into your organization’s broader communications strategies? With their differences from traditional print and broadcast media, companies should carefully consider what stories, and which leaders, will be right for each media format.

Finding the right story to pitch a podcast

When searching for the right opportunity to share your company story on a podcast, companies should carefully consider what audience they are trying to reach. Podcasts tend to have smaller, more highly engaged audiences anchored around specific topics. Podcasts are also often run by industry experts and thought leaders themselves in addition to journalists, giving the opportunity not only to connect to the audience but to foster connections between mutual industry leaders.  

The topic has to sustain a discussion for a full episode, which can often run for over 30 minutes. When evaluating podcast to target, it’s important to keep in mind whether the story has enough depth to fill the time. The right story for a podcast should be inspiring to listeners, easily explainable and not need to rely on visual elements to keep listeners intrigued.  

Prepping your thought leader for a podcast recording

While the intrigue of the story is of course the basis for any podcast episode, even the best stories need the right person to share it. Selecting the right thought leader and preparing them for podcasts is one of the most important parts of the process for communications teams.  

Thought leaders should be ready to discuss their stories head on, field rogue questions, and discuss their work with the host as passionately as they would any other industry colleague. As communications professionals, it’s our job to ensure that leaders are properly prepared and ready, not only with an angle and clear point of view but also with conversational assets like being able to bridge the story and creating a headline to describe the expert's position in a casual way. Understanding the audience’s level of expertise is critical to avoid overexplaining to fellow experts or inserting industry jargon to an audience that crosses into beginner fields.

Whereas traditional print media lifts and chooses the best and most interesting notes from an interview, podcasts typically include all parts of the conversation, leaving it to the thought leader to ensure they are engaged and showing off their expertise and passion through the full conversation.

Making the most of podcasting

While podcasts can be a powerful tool to use in your media strategy, being intentional in audience and content selection will help to make a larger impact and foster stronger connections through podcasting.

Here at Greenough, we often support our clients by finding the right opportunities for leaders to join a podcast episode and share their news or expertise with a unique audience. Listen in to some of our client podcast interviews below:

• Healthcare de Jure: Ali Morin, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, symplr

• CareTalk: Making AI Safe for Healthcare w/ Dr. Holly Urban

• S&P Global EnergyCents: Change Makers: John Plack, Ameresco SVP

• Peer POV: The Pulse on Medicine, National Kidney Month: A Call to Address the Hidden, Rising Burden of CKD

• What Just Happened: Christine Russo in Conversation with Michael Della Penna, InMarket CSO: Why Customer Data and Intent Power Modern Marketing

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