The rise of podcasts and audio spaces for architecture and design
The audio revolution
It wasn’t long ago that the podcast was a niche and rarely listened to with a radio show the closest equivalent. Fast-forward a few years (the first podcast was created in 2004!) and throw in a lockdown or two and now audio spaces and podcast series are booming. And a telling sign of their success is not just the rapid rise of Clubhouse audio spaces but the response from the big hitters with Twitter Spaces now up and running as well as Facebook and LinkedIn all trying to get in on the act.
An Ofcom survey in 2019 established that,
“around 7.1 million people in the UK now listen to podcasts each week. That’s one in eight people and is an increase of 24% over the past year – and more than double over the past five years. Ofcom research also found that half of listeners have joined the podcast wave in the last two years.”
The lockdown only served to increase the number of people listening with 16.1% of adults now listening each week to a podcast (Ofcom 2020 report), though this has slowed slightly as we open back up again.
Bringing podcasts to the design and architecture industries
We have long been fans of podcasts and in recent years, they have really taken off in the design community. For example, Grant Gibson started his ‘Material Matters’ podcast back in 2019. His Podcast has been downloaded over 150,000 times and is now averaging 11,000 downloads a week!
Subjects are wide-ranging and often thought-provoking - from buildings and cities to topics designed to remedy particular problems or points of discussion in the industry.
Among design and architecture podcasts, other favourites of ours include:
Architecture Masters
Dezeen podcast series, Face to Face
99% Invisible - US podcast focused on revealing details on design and architecture that are overlooked by many people
The Great Indoors by Sophie Robinson and Kate Watson-Smyth
The big advantage of podcasts such as these is that they appeal to their audiences by covering niche or specialist topics that enhance and add value to your everyday working life. You can pretty much find any subject these days that would appeal to architects or design aficionados which makes them incredibly appealing to brands looking for ways to communicate their specialisms more effectively.
They add value in a way that other mediums can’t because they inform and inspire. And many who have launched podcasts have found that they allow you to build deeper connections with new and potential customers before they even get in touch with you, building communities. So when they do, they feel like they know you, your brand and your ethos already, making the beginning of any working relationship much easier to establish thanks to a pre-existing familiarity.
Add to that their ease of production (more about that later) and relative cost-effectiveness compared to other marketing, with recordings being able to happen around busy schedules, they are a tempting prospect for many.
The new kids on the audio block
It’s quite the hot topic at the moment - Clubhouse. Its meteoric rise from when it launched in April last year to now has not been without its challenges. From security concerns to a fairly sizable chunk of the market - those pesky Android users - being excluded from this new ‘club’, it’s had to work rapidly to adapt to its success.
However, just as it is finally made available to all users, Twitter has launched its Spaces alternative, agilely adapting to growing demand, to cut them off at the pass (having initially tried to buy Clubhouse themselves!). Or have they?
With Spaces too in its infancy, time will tell as to whether this new feature will catch the attention of platform users but diverse ways to connect with your audience is a positive thing and one we will be monitoring as it starts to gain more traction in the UK. Need a Clubhouse invite? Get in touch and we can add you so you can get a sense of what all the fuss is about!
So what’s the difference between audio and podcasts? And is one better than the other?
The subtle but important difference between things like Clubhouse and your average podcast is that with live audio, it’s unpolished and potentially more unpredictable! Users are passively listening to the discussion (if they aren’t taking part) whereas, with podcasts, your user is actively listening and engaged.
With podcasts, you can take more time to craft the ebb and flow of a conversation to keep people listening whereas, with audio rooms, users can dip in and out quickly if the conversation becomes stale and unengaging. OK, so live audio is exciting - you feel like you’re listening in to a secret discussion that only a few are privy to, but on balance, podcasts allow you to develop a richer, more inviting narrative that audio platforms just don’t let you do.
You can also monetise your podcast by searching for sponsorship which could be an added bonus for your business. This takes time and will likely require you to build a good following first.
So how can you make your own podcast?
Whilst you could hire or buy all the recording equipment and try and find just a little bit more space in that home office, there are plenty of experts in this field now who can help you to create some really high-quality recordings and give you guidance on how to bring structure to your schedule.
We spoke to James Green of Green Podcast Productions for his top tips. He said:
Start with why – it’s important from the outset to know what the purpose of your podcast is. Make sure you know why you are doing it and who your audience is. For example, do you want to find new business, increase brand awareness, or promote an event?
Pick a format - there are many formats a podcast can take, so you should consider which one will best get your message across. Common formats are monologues, interviews, co-hosted, or story-based podcasts. Consider show length carefully and choose a running time that works best for your show. It’s also good to be consistent with your release schedule to build your audience over time. Podcasting rewards consistency, patience, and great content!
Get the right equipment – getting good audio quality is essential to engage and captivate your audience. As a minimum, you’ll need a microphone, headphones, and audio recording/editing software. There are lots of different types of this gear on the market so it’s worth doing some research and getting some trusted advice on what you need specifically for your show.
Have fun! – Podcasting can be a lot of fun and it’s exciting to know that the sky's the limit in terms of how many people you can reach all over the world. So create something you are passionate about, and go have fun with it!
So you’ve recorded your podcast and now you need to tell people about it…
It’s in the can, you’ve hosted it in an appropriate place (getting it onto iTunes or Spotify would be a big win but there are plenty of alternatives!) but now what?
Marketing a podcast or podcast series is going to be a key part of your plan.
First and foremost, utilising your own social media networks and, if you have them, guest speaker’’ platforms is really important. Getting them to give it a shoutout (or asking other partners to do the same) will extend the reach of your announcement.
Make sure you have images to accompany your promotion, quotes that you pull from what’s said and importantly a quick link to access this week’s episode.
Take audio clips/soundbites from the episode to give people a flavour of the topic of discussion and its style. Use your Instagram Stories, and highlight a topic in Reels with the top 3 takeaways that people will get from listening. If it’s a b2b audience, don’t forget about LinkedIn Stories too! And pin your tweet about it to the top of your Twitter profile.
Next, don’t forget about dusting off that newsletter and mailing list. This is a goldmine for promotion if you do it in a way that takes those people along with you and encourages them to listen. Make sure they feel that you have contacted them directly because you know they’d find it interesting, rather than just a full-on sales pitch, especially if you haven’t contacted them for a while.
If it’s a series you’re recording, consider launching with more than one episode. If there will be a long gap between each, you want to draw them in early so that they come back for more so having two or more available straight away at launch might be helpful to build audience loyalty.
What about transcribing that podcast into a blog post to extend the discussion? You could share the salient points in a post and encourage people to add their podcast to their listening recommendations.
This will also help boost your SEO profile if you ensure the discussion is tailored to your keywords and audience interests!
Silvia Del Corso, SEO Specialist and Founder of PinkSEO.Marketing confirms:
"Adding a transcript to each podcast episode will increase its chances to rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) for the terms mentioned, particularly if the episode page is properly optimised.
Podcast transcriptions make it also easier for authoritative sites to link to you, especially if they want to call out something specific from the podcast without skipping through the entire recording.
Finally, audio might not be an ideal medium for everyone. Transcripts make your content more accessible to more people and improve the user experience. User experience and SEO are very closely interrelated - and a neat transcript can help UX also allowing quick scanning, which is our natural tendency for content consumption."
And last but not least, make sure you submit your podcast to Podcatchers! These are simply apps that allow you to play podcasts. Beyond the usual ones like the native Apple one, Spotify etc, this is a great way to get your recordings out there.
So this all seems like a big list. I get it. But if done right, they can be a hugely successful part of your marketing mix. Podcasts are also being indexed by Google, which means they need due care and attention from an SEO perspective and they can then help boost your organic traffic! So it’s really worth considering as an option for your business.
Want to know more? Then get in touch and we can help shape your podcasting plans and turn them into a reality!
