Tag Archives: insights

Further tales from the leading edge and beyond: more Apps, Games, & Insights podcast episodes

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Global Marketing, Platforms & Ecosystems

We are launching the second series of the Apps, Games, & Insights podcast.

Over the summer, we teamed up with a new group of leading industry insiders and experts to bring you 8 new podcast episodes over the next couple of months. We are bringing you their exceptional business stories, experiences and discussion on some of the latest big questions in the apps and games industry.

We are joined again by your hosts—Tamzin Taylor, who heads up Apps & Games Business Development for Google Play in Western Europe, and Dirk Primbs, who leads the Ecosystem Developer Relations team in Europe— and you can find out who they have been cajoling and corralling in the new series, below.

In the first series, the guests covered topics ranging from responsible growth and building for the long term, through advice from mergers and acquisitions and venture capital experts, to hot topics such as privacy and accessibility.

Apps, Games, & Insights podcast series 2 brings you a similarly diverse range of insights, stories, and learnings, and without further ado, get a sneak peek as to what we have lined up...

We kickoff with Elliott Rayner, Head Of Product Marketing, and John Quintana, Head of Guided Learning Experiences, from Babbel the online language learning company. Here in episode 9 we talk about how the new normal is disrupting the delivery of all types of education. Elliott and John discuss how Babbel is transforming and adapting and has been "thinking big" about the future of education: ultimately can apps take the place of traditional classroom education?

Most of us are very aware how critical environmental change is, but how do we raise awareness to fight climate change through our businesses? In episode 10 we are joined by Jennifer Estaris, Games Director at SYBO Games and Deborah Mensah-Bonsu, Founder of Games for Good and formerly at Space Ape Games, to learn how others are changing the game. In the recent Green Game Jam, 11 game studios came together to find innovative and engaging ways to educate and empower players about climate change through games. Jennifer and Deborah discuss how they ensured that the ideas were more than just another collection of tips for better recycling, and then pulled together a jam to bring great minds together and actualise change.

We also explore how to be successful with 4x strategy games—turn-based and real-time strategy games where you build an empire—in episode 11. We’re joined by David Eckleberry, General Manager and Vice President at Scopely, and Howard Chen, Google Play Growth Consultant. We hear how Star Trek Fleet Command has successfully built it’s loyal player base and the stories that bring to life the learnings about player affinity, KPI growth, comparative analysis with other game genres, and more.

With literally thousands of languages to choose from, language learning apps are in a unique position to reflect humanity’s diversity. The team at Drops have taken this opportunity by incorporating several indigenous languages into their app portfolio. So, while supporting the usual suspects of popular languages, users of Drops can also learn Hawaiian, Maori (from New Zealand), and Innu (from Japan) among others. In episode 12, we talk with Drops CEO and Co-Founder, Daniel Farkas and Chief Customer Officer, Drew Banks about how they actively foster diversity and inclusion in their product and company.

Have you ever wondered what goes behind the scenes to help you order your favourite foods from delivery apps? Delivering a quality app is essential to the success of your business, in both acquiring and retaining users. In episode 13, we’re joined by Maria Neumayer, Staff Software Engineer, at food delivery service Deliveroo and Shobhit Chugh, Product Manager, Firebase to talk about the practical steps you can take to design quality into an app or game. Discover and rectify quality problems in testing and production and hear Maria’s insights into how Deliveroo has adapted to the new normal.

Mobile gaming offers developers of PC and console games a significant opportunity. By going mobile, game developers can expand their player base and drive retention by providing a platform for players to stay engaged while they’re on the move. Jen Donahoe, Marketing and Growth lead for TeamFight Tactics at Riot Games joins us in episode 14 to discuss the challenges and opportunities they had in taking their games mobile.

What makes retention so critical to the success of a business over other measures, and how do you optimize this strategy? We speak to Marcus Gners, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder at health and fitness app developer Lifesum to hear how about the models they use and how they approach habitual usage. In episode 15, alongside Marcus, we are joined by best-selling author of “Hooked” and “Indistractable,” Nir Eyal, to explore the behavior apps should foster to drive retention, and how to measure this effectively.

So as to not give the whole game away, we are keeping the details of our final episode under wraps, so keep an eye out for more details shortly.

The new episodes of the Apps, Games, & Insights podcast are sure to spark the interest of business and app or gaming enthusiasts, and developers, who want to get the inside scoop from industry experts on business strategies and their success stories, and how to create successful apps and games businesses in these rapidly changing times. We look forward to you joining us on this journey.

How to stay tuned in

To find out more about what’s coming, check out our Apps, Games, & Insights podcast homepage and find links to all the latest episodes.

Subscribe and listen to our first episode here, or on your favorite podcast platform including Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Libsyn, Pocket Casts and Overcast, Deezer, and iHeartRadio.

Keep an eye out on @GooglePlayDev and @AndroidDev on Twitter where we will be announcing the launch of the new episodes each week.

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Source: Android Developers Blog

Environmental Insights Explorer Expands: 100 Australian councils and counting

Environmental Insights Explorer

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a crucial step in fighting the climate crisis. And cities now account for more than 70 percent of global emissions. But measuring exactly which activities—whether it’s buildings, cars, or public transport—are contributing to emissions, and by how much, is complex. Without this information, cities can neither understand the challenges they face, nor the impact of their environmental policies.

This is the problem we’re working to solve with Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE), an online platform that provides building and transportation emissions, as well as solar potential analysis to make it easier for cities to measure progress against their climate action plans. Launched in 2018 for a handful of cities around the world including Melbourne, with Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide then added in 2019, EIE has helped councils accelerate GHG reduction efforts. Today, we’ve expanded EIE data access to thousands of cities worldwide, including 100+ Australian councils.

To scale data access to local governments, policy makers and community groups, we’re also developing partnerships with leading Australian organisations, councils, and climate change experts. This includes a new partnership with Ironbark Sustainability and Beyond Zero Emissions to make EIE transportation data available for 100+ councils in Snapshot—a free tool that calculates major sources of carbon emissions, including stationary energy, transport, waste, agriculture, and land-use change. Snapshot allows municipalities to easily compare their sources of carbon emissions. This data integration will provide updated GHG profiles and enable local government policy decision-making for more than 86 percent of the country's population to put councils on a fast track for delivering commitments, building local resilience, and ensuring economic recovery.

Accelerated city-wide analysis

By analysing Google’s comprehensive global mapping data together with GHG emission factors, EIE estimates city-scale building and transportation carbon emissions data with the ability to drill down into more specific data such as vehicle-kilometres travelled by mode (automobiles, public transit, biking, etc.) and the percentage of emissions generated by residential or non-residential buildings.

The insights that EIE provides have traditionally required many months of research, and a lot of resources for cities undertaking a climate action plan. Using Google’s proprietary data coupled with machine learning capabilities, we can produce a complete survey of a city that can be assessed very quickly. In this way, EIE allows cities to leapfrog tedious and costly data collection and analysis.

EIE transport data now available in Snapshot for 100+ councils

The next chapter

Over the next few months, we’ll be working together to help Australian councils learn more about data insights from EIE and expand data coverage to more councils. We hope that by making EIE data accessible to more councils across Australia, we’ll help nurture an ecosystem that can bring climate action plans to life.

Posted by Nicole Lombardo, Partner Development Manager, Environmental Insights Explorer

Source: Official Google Australia Blog

Environmental Insights Explorer Expands: 100 Australian councils and counting

Environmental Insights Explorer

Accelerated city-wide analysis

EIE transport data now available in Snapshot for 100+ councils

The next chapter

Posted by Nicole Lombardo, Partner Development Manager, Environmental Insights Explorer

Source: Official Google Australia Blog

Unveiling expert insights in our new podcast series: Apps, Games, & Insights

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Global Marketing, Platforms & Ecosystems

This is a cross-post from The Google Keyword blog.

Today we’re launching the Apps, Games, & Insights podcast series, bringing together insights, stories, and learnings from industry experts, on some of today's hottest topics surrounding mobile, apps and games businesses, and the wider industry.

Listen to the podcast here!

The series has eight episodes which aim to challenge, provoke thought, and enlighten listeners - from designers and developers, through to product managers and marketers, and those interested in the apps and games industry.

The podcast is hosted by Googlers Tamzin Taylor, who heads up Apps & Games Business Development for Google Play in Western Europe, and Dirk Primbs, who leads the Ecosystem Developer Relations team in EMEA. Together, they have many years of experience working with partners to assist with Android development, mobile, app, game, and business growth. Every week they will be joined by different guests for each of the episodes.

Sneak peek at what’s coming up

Kicking off the series are Judy Chen and Sarah Fuchs from Crowdstar, the developers of Covet Fashion and Design Home. They join us for episode 1 to discuss how to build a long-term games business by taking a holistic approach to the game, its players, and the people who create the game.

Ever wonder if it's worth selling your app or game business, and if so how to approach it? It's not all about pocketing the cash and walking away. For episode 2, game mergers and acquisitions expert Chris Petrovic from Zynga will talk about how acquisition can free developers to focus on what they love: creating great apps and games.

The popularity of subscriptions continues to grow, with developers who used subscriptions earning 4X more in 2018, than in 2016. Holly Ackerman and David Berlin, from the sports streaming platform DAZN, join us for episode 3 to provide some fascinating insights into how they have grown their subscription business in this industry.

Whether you are a startup in search of funding or an established business looking to accelerate your investment, venture capital can often be a good source of funds. In episode 4, venture capital expert Matteo Vallone from Cherry Ventures offers insights into the investment process and how to maximize your appeal to investors.

For episode 5, we have what is possibly one of the biggest topics in mobile and throughout the tech industry: privacy. Bruce Gustafson, CEO of Developers Alliance brings us up to speed on trust and safety, platform value, respecting the user, and ultimately building privacy friendly apps and games.

Successful game developers put players front and center of everything they do. When over 270 million people have played your games, you must be doing something right. Ben Clarke, Senior Global Marketing Director at Jagex, joins us for episode 6 to discuss some of the innovative approaches to player engagement and retention taken in their RuneScape games.

Figuring out how to make your app or game accessible to all can often be a challenge, sometimes both from an organizational and technical perspective. However, many developers have made accessibility a core part of their app development process and company culture. For episode 7, we’re joined by Ceri Lindsay and Rosalind Whittam from the BBC to discover how they address accessibility.

Today, Android is not just about smartphones, Android apps and games can run on a range of devices with larger screens, such as Chromebooks. At the same time, mature mobile game franchises are looking for opportunities beyond mobile. In our final episode 8, we’ll be joined by Maximiliano Rodriguez of Gameloft to talk about the challenge of taking games to big screens and new platforms.

We hope you’ll join us over the next eight weeks to dive deeper and hear what our thought leader guests have to say on each topic.

How to stay tuned in

To listen to our first podcast and find out more about what’s coming, check out our new Apps, Games, & Insights podcast homepage.

Listen to our first episode here, or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Google Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, and also on LibSyn. Keep an eye out on @GooglePlayDev and @AndroidDev on Twitter where we will be announcing the launch of the new episodes each week.

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Source: Android Developers Blog

Spin your agency into the future

Anass Koudiss | Global Education Programme Manager, Leadership

Reading time: 3 minutes

If you’ve read a newspaper or an advertising industry magazine in the last few weeks, it’s very likely that machine learning and automation were mentioned at least once. They’re the hottest new topics in the marketing world.

As the tech evolves, and manual tasks move towards automation, it’s up to agency leaders to make sure it’s being used to provide new value to their clients and spur agency growth.

Since every agency is unique, each will need to take its own approach. Every agency has its own strengths, growth opportunities and resource capabilities. What many agencies have in common, though, is their powerful ability to grow and transform quickly in an industry that’s constantly changing.

At Google, we’re powering our advertising solutions with machine learning. Automated solutions like Smart Bidding, Smart Creatives, and App campaigns take care of routine tasks, freeing up your team to focus on ad-testing, advanced insights, or more face time with clients.

As with any big change, adopting this new approach takes a lot of planning. So we developed a powerful framework called “The Web of Transformation”, to help you envision the future of your unique agency. To get started, bring your leadership team together, print out this A3 poster, and spin your agency web with the following steps:

1. To begin, choose the eight most important dimensions that make up your agency. Specifically, pick the eight things that help you and your clients grow.

2. Feel free to choose from the suggestions here, but make sure you pick dimensions that make sense for your agency.

3. Next, with the help of your team, rank each of the eight dimensions from most important to least.

4. Finally, grade your ability in each dimension on a scale of 1 to 5. Here’s an example of what it should look like.

5. Make sure to evaluate and analyse where you excel, and where you need to step up your game. Ask yourselves the questions below to help drive the discussion.

Together, we can use this process to capitalize on automation and Machine Learning opportunities, as we've done before with mobile, multi-screen, and video. So weave your web carefully, it will give you a glimpse into the future of your agency.

Source: AdWords Agency Blog

Unleash your creativity

Reading time: 5 minutes

In a world of superheroes, creativity is a real human superpower. Everybody has it. It doesn’t just live within certain types of people within an agency. We all have creative potential. But as we get older, safer and more comfortable, we run the risk of losing that creative spark as life becomes associated with routine and order.

So is there a way to get back into your creative self? What methods from business, innovation or anywhere else are there to help you tap into that wellspring of positive ideas?

We sat down with Doctor Frederik Pferdt, Google’s Chief Innovation Evangelist, for the Google Partners Podcast episode 31, and he offered some fascinating insights (and tips) on how to answer some of those questions. During the discussion, he offers his thoughts on how adults can rekindle some of the creative fire they had as children, and other key takeaways to spark innovation at every level.

Ask questions

According to Doctor Pferdt it’s not only about ideas, but also about asking the right questions, finding good problems and therefore developing a healthy disregard for the impossible. Find a “what if” and a “why”.

As author and marketing guru, Simon Sinek recommends that you see if you can reframe the problem by getting to its roots. “Start with a Why.” Why do you normally approach a certain challenge from the angle you do, and why not step away from the issue and take a completely new perspective? Try something new. Get into a room, fill a wall or even two with post-it notes: what connections can you make and what new associations can you find, when you are free to consider them?

Break routines

Every human being is looking for routines. They give us safety, security and save our brains energy. They make us feel good. That said, routines sometimes only help us to perform to our average level or below. Like putting your smartphone into ‘Low Power’ mode, some of the more complicated applications won’t work. To free us from the shackles of everyday thinking, it can be necessary to break those routines. Go and walk a mile, go check out a local gallery. Or even, as Jan Chozen Bay suggests in Mindfulness on the Go, pause and take a breath every time you walk through a door². You can also make a list of your routines and they see if any of them are worth breaking (just as some will be worth holding onto).

Two modes for thinkers

As Doctor Pferdt mentions, it’s helpful to consider different approaches to thinking. According to him, there are two kinds of thinking: Divergent thinking powers the imagination, so it’s used for generating new possibilities and combining new thoughts. Convergent thinking powers your judgment, when you’re making decisions it’s how you evaluate and it’s the mode you use when you’re testing something or criticizing.

Allow yourself to recognize which of the two modes you are using. For example, try to think divergently when considering your methods or plans, so that you can embrace new possibilities. Give your ideas a chance to breathe before you start to criticize (and think convergently). One practical example writers use: if you have a speech or memo to deliver, try writing it out with a pen and paper before you type it out, and don’t stop to edit yourself. Let the words flow first and come back to edit later. You’ll find the shape of your ideas, which you can then come back to and refine with your critical eye later.

Challenge assumptions

Why is it that way, why can’t it be different? New, radical solutions mostly emerge outside of our comfort zone. Constraints should be welcomed as an opportunity. Consider early users of Twitter. Writing a coherent message in just 140 characters (as it used to be) seemed a crazy challenge. But the constraint became creative fuel to millions of messages and new ways of communicating in shorthand. Just as the rigid structures of the meter, rhyme, and theatrical convention were subverted by William Shakespeare - even as he adhered to them.

From the Elizabethans to the present day, forms of convention and modes of communication move forward inexorably. The most successful thinkers and doers have to be ready to learn new ways and keep themselves learning, so they can stay in touch.

Build innovation into your daily routine

When you consider the pace of change in technology, it makes sense to include ‘innovator’ in your job description, in both your actions and attitude. What can you learn and take on in your thinking that will prepare you for the changes to come?

Doctor Pferdt recommends adopting what researcher Carol Dweck calls a “growth mindset” (the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and to solve problems), which can start a virtuous cycle whereby believing you can improve, you actually improve. There is also a sense that having an open mind to new ways of working will not just be crucial in 2019 but might also be the key to agency success in the future. Scott Harrison, founder of The Boom! has this to say on learning at work and the importance of a certain kind of versatility.¹

In the end, the challenge comes back to us all. How do you change your everyday approach to get creative?

Tune in to the Google Partners Podcast to find out more; and let us know your thoughts on Twitter.

¹ Kapow! how you can hack, teach, make and steal your way to creativity in digital, Think With Google, June 2018
² Hacking your innovation mindset, re:Work, June 2018

Source: AdWords Agency Blog

Catching the eye with seasonal ads

Reading time: 4 minutes

Seasonal campaigns go beyond the holidays - Cyber Monday, Mother’s Day, and Small Business Saturday are also a huge part of the retail year. They’re less about targeting seasons, and more about finding moments with a common appeal in your client’s industry.

Brands need to be present in these moments, ready to greet panic-driven deal hunters with the perfect solution. So we sat down with Shopify’s CMO Hana Abaza on the Google Partners Podcast to get her top tips for seasonal campaigns that drive sales.

Find your season

Every business has an element of seasonality; times when interest piques and traffic spikes. All you need to do is identify them! Robust Google Analytics reports are a great place to start. Export your data onto a spreadsheet, and with some clever formatting, trends will start to light up like fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Analytics also helps you uncover biases that may be hiding behind “failed” campaigns. For example, if you pumped a lot of your budget into targeting Valentine’s Day last year without success, it would be easy to write the day off as a ‘bad fit’ for your brand. Take a fresh look at the data, carry out an honest review, and you may find that small tweaks are all that’s needed to turn things around next year.

Spot your opportunity

You’ve identified the seasons that matter to your business, now make sure your marketing budget is ready to handle the increased workload. Use Google Trends to spot search trends across each region you’re targeting, then compare that to search volume data in Google Ads to find keywords that fit your offering.

In the build-up of individual events, Consumer Barometer can help you better understand how to reach your audience at the right time, with the right message. Different events bring up different emotions, so keeping track of consumer trends is a great way to make sure your ads strike an emotional chord with your audience.

Create separate campaigns

It’s important that you measure success without the noise of other, non-seasonal campaigns. This helps you identify nuances in each season, and optimize next year’s campaigns with those insights in mind.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with copy. Products like Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) can help you test different messages with very little effort. All you need to do is enter multiple headlines and descriptions about your products, and Google Ads will test different combinations to identify the best fit for your audience.

Don’t miss last-minute shoppers

There’s been a 120% increase in “same-day delivery” searches since 2015¹. For urgent searches, 74% of shoppers say that when they’re searching on mobile, they look for the most relevant information, regardless of the company or brand². As a result, the retailer that provides the most seamless experience wins.

Season-specific promotion extensions help your ads stand out on Google’s results pages, and spotlight special promotions you may be running for the event. Highlighting services like same-day delivery, last-minute sales, or gift-wrapping may be all it takes to tip customers in your direction.

Great seasonal campaigns are all about planning. Arm yourself with industry trends, plan your marketing budget with those trends in mind, and remember to tap into your consumer’s emotions with ads that resonate. With the right tools, a detailed content plan, and thorough research, you’ll be setting yourself up for seasonal success.

Watch the video below and tune in to the Google Partners Podcast for more actionable tips and insights for seasonal success.

¹ How to reach today’s impatient shoppers - whether they’re shopping online, by voice, or in store, Think With Google, May 2018
² How to reach today’s impatient shoppers - whether they’re shopping online, by voice, or in store, Think With Google, May 2018

Source: AdWords Agency Blog

Marketing in the age of assistance

Reading time: 3 minutes

More than ever, people are speaking to devices as part of their daily routine.

In the same way that smartphones revolutionized the way we shop online, the impact of voice assistants is now starting to show through integration with phones, cars, TVs and homes.

We use the Google Assistant to put together shopping lists, manage our finances, and control our homes. But recent research has shown that we don’t just use voice to multitask - we use it to make purchases.

These insights show the massive impact that voice-activated speakers like Google Home are having on the average consumer.

They drive action

62% of people say they’re likely to make a purchase through their speaker in the next month, and 44% make weekly purchases. People are growing more comfortable using voice to shop online, and retail websites need to take notice. Speaking of growing more comfortable…

They're part of the family

Almost 70% of voice searches are made through natural language, not the keywords we use in web searches. And 41% of people say it feels like talking to a family member or friend, using words like “please” and “sorry” as part of the conversation.

They're part of the daily routine

72% of people say their speakers are used as part of their daily routine. From checking commute times in the morning to setting shopping reminders in the evening, smart speakers are now “part of the furniture” in an increasing number of homes.

They're brand-friendly

More than half of the people we surveyed said they want to receive info about sales, deals, and promotions from brands through their speaker. This opens up a huge opportunity for companies to project a literal ‘brand voice’, strengthening their emotional bonds with consumers.

It’s not just special offers either - people want to hear from brands about a wide range of information.

As voice search grows in popularity, it’s up to agencies to stay up-to-date with the tech, and find creative and practical ways to integrate it into their clients’ campaigns. The best way to do this is to get familiar with Actions on Google Assistant.

The Google Assistant is the voice that answers when you ask Google Home for the weather forecast, or the app on your phone for the fastest route to coffee. Actions are the programming signals within the Google Assistant that process these requests. These Actions can be built for free by anyone, simply and effectively.

So if you have a restaurant client, you could build an Action to check the daily specials or order food for takeout. Or if you have a client in retail, you could build an Action for instant checkouts or personalized recommendations.

Google Assistant is available across over 500 million devices, and growing. It’s a major part of the future of online shopping and advertising. Before talking to your clients about its capabilities, check out this video playlist for everything you’ll need to build your first Action.

You can also find out more about how voice assistance affects consumer behavior with this handy video:

Source: Think with Google

Source: AdWords Agency Blog

Moving from integration to synchronization

Reading time: 3 minutes

Consumers are more digitally savvy than ever before, effortlessly bouncing across channels and brands, making up their minds as they go. In fact, 49% of users visit 2-4 websites before they decide to make a purchase.* So how can we make sure our marketing is on-brand and in-sync with our brand message across platforms? By amplifying and strengthening that message with synchronized marketing.

Marketing is a team sport - each message needs to be in tune with another to survive in the ever-evolving advertising ecosystem. Marketers need to start thinking beyond a single campaign, and more about ensuring our messages are in-sync with one another, and the overall brand message.

Simply put, it’s taking integrated marketing ideas and expanding on them with the consumer in mind. There’s no need to abandon your marketing strategies, because a simple tweak may be all that’s missing in your plan. Here are five areas you can fine-tune to make sure you’re nailing your marketing efforts every time.

Define your purpose

What do you offer your clients that others can’t? What problems are you solving and how? Define what makes you unique, and let that message be the anchor that keeps your brand message consistent throughout, even when you introduce new products.

Keep the dialogue going

Thanks to the evolution of social media, marketers can continuously engage with their audience to keep their brand front-of-mind. A conversation that starts on Facebook can easily spill over to Twitter, blogs, and other mediums, amplifying the message for your audience. Let your customers know you care by responding to comments, complaints, and questions quickly and compassionately across all platforms.

Sync up your various platforms

Digitally-conscious consumers often blur the line between online and offline, reality and virtual reality. When marketing is synchronized, all touchpoints feed off each other. The conversational nature of social media is a great way to kick off a campaign online and then use the promoted hashtag on print, out-of-home and video ads, seamlessly marrying offline and online marketing efforts.

Repurpose and recycle content

Create content that you can repurpose across multiple channels. 60% of marketers produce at least one new content piece every day,** but pumping brand new content can be expensive. However, a stimulating white paper can be condensed into a blog piece, excerpts of key learnings can be shared on social media with a link to download the full report, and you can feature it on a company podcast discussing similar topics.

Treat employees like brand advocates

Employees are the heart and soul of the brand and can act as a direct line to a broader audience. People are more aligned with their online profiles than ever before, and happy team members that are proud of what they do will sing about it from the rooftops across multiple platforms. And their reach is incredible - a recent study found that employees have on average ten times more connections than branded channels online.*** They are the messengers that can make or break your brand, so make them feel valued and appreciated.

Synchronized marketing is all about thinking beyond a single campaign, and making sure every message we send out harmonizes across all channels. It’s tougher than ever before to know how and where a customer will see your brand for the first time, so make sure you provide a consistent experience throughout your marketing efforts.

*Source: Gallup

** Source: WordStream

***Source: MSLGROUP

Source: AdWords Agency Blog

Marketing with podcasts

Reading time: 5 minutes

The podcast industry is booming, so it’s no wonder savvy marketers are weaving them into their content marketing plans. They are a great way to reach your audience, and podcast listeners are also a loyal bunch: 80% will listen to a full podcast once they’ve started it, and 45% will follow calls to action after hearing them.*

With the marketplace experiencing a growth spurt and over half a million podcasts to choose from, there are no signs of podcasts losing popularity. But, it takes more than a microphone and an idea to attract such a highly engaged crowd. So, here are some tips on creating a podcast that survives the marketing ecosystem and stands out from the crowd.

Be remarkable

It can be tempting to follow in the footsteps of the podcast greats, but if you want to generate interest and excitement, you should venture off the beaten path and find your niche topic. To do that, become the market and start researching what’s already out there. Start with something that interests you. Show up in the comments on some of the podcasts that you find useful, listen to what could be improved, and participate in the forums. Once you gather all your insights, sit down and deep-dive into your findings - an opportunity will be hiding in there, you just need to listen for it.

Be committed and consistent

Team up with like-minded people who enjoy the same type of content, to ensure you are all aligned on tone, topics and what you want to achieve. Building up interest and listenership takes time and effort, so having people pulling in the same direction is key to getting across the finish line. Consistency is key, so commit to a schedule you are comfortable with and stick with it. To set expectations, make sure you post regularly and at the same time.

Take risks

Don’t be afraid to amp up your promotions or content to be heard. Recycling is great, but reciting the same old repertoire will only get you so far. However, this doesn’t mean that to succeed you have to reinvent the wheel and come up with something completely original. Instead of thinking brand-new, think better-new. Take something that’s already out there and put a spin on it; introduce a new way of looking at the topic, mix it up with a twist on delivery, or delight with a surprising host choice.

For example, the gaming podcast What’s Good Games is hosted by four female experts who are taking the predominantly male gaming industry by storm. The topic itself isn’t new, but the hosts’ unique insights put them at the top of the leaderboard.

Reward your listeners

Making your audience feel special and appreciated is a great way to encourage your audience to tune in to your podcast. So, reach out to them on social channels, and reward your audience with exclusive offers, content, and freebies. Shout outs and special mentions at the end of each podcast can also be an excellent incentive for people to stay tuned in until the very end, and it can help you connect with your listeners on a more personal level. Let them know that you’re listening to their thoughts, suggestions, and concerns. Not listening to feedback is the fastest way to isolate your fans, so ensure you’re actively taking notes on what’s working and what could be amplified.

Podcast promotion

Be loud and proud about your podcast! Learn where your audience lives online, to know how to reach them on channels they love to follow. Make sure to create a call to action - what is it that you would like them to do after listening to your podcast? Visit your website, download your e-book, subscribe to your newsletter? Choose one and sprinkle it at the end of each episode.

Create a buzz around upcoming episodes by teasing your audience with a short audio snippet, sharing fun facts about the topic, and what they will learn if they tune in. Harness the power and reach of social media to let your followers know about your podcast. Don’t be shy about sharing your podcast more than once - the social media landscaping is overflowing with content, and it is more than likely that some people will have missed your original post.

A podcast should be like a pop song - it should be playing on all stations. Make your podcast available on all main directories, such as Google Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podbay and Podtail to make it easier to find for your audience.

Repurpose podcast content

It takes a lot of time and effort to record a podcast. Repurpose that content and publish it across different mediums to make the most of it. Write a blog post using key takeaways from your podcast, publish videos of your podcast recordings on YouTube, create social media posts using quotes from guests, and promote your other content within your podcast. Look at your content marketing engine as an ecosystem that supports each other and helps it thrive.

Starting a podcast is no easy feat - it requires a lot of time to build up your audience, and hard work to cut through the white noise. But with a little planning, commitment, and research, this could become your path to a regular, highly engaged audience. Check out the video below for more tips on podcasts that resonate, and the Google Partners Podcast for more marketing insights and these tips in action.

*Source: Podcast Insights