Have you heard? The once-soft hum of sonic content is amping up to a crescendo of brand value.
A strategic investment in listener-friendly content formats like podcasts, audiobooks, and sound snippets can enhance the emotional appeal of your stories. It can also strengthen your audience connections and marketing performance.
“A relationship with a prospect or customer through audio is very personal,” says Jeanniey Walden, CMO of Rite Aid and host of the popular Liftoff Journeys podcast.
“During your workday, you’re getting pitched and pinged on your devices while you’re in ‘deflect and move on mode,’” Jeanniey explains. “But when listening to audio, whether a podcast or an audiobook, you are most likely in a transitionary or relaxed state. At that point, it’s just you and the content.”
It’s rare to get your audience’s full attention. However, audio storytelling can engage them for minutes at a time. “That’s a heck of a lot longer than the three seconds people typically view a video before flipping and scrolling to the next one,” Jeanniey says. “With the right message, it can give you competitive differentiation.”
As with any content format, you’ll need to develop a strategy to distinguish your audio storytelling and rise above the noise of a crowded content marketplace. You’ll also need realistic expectations of the marketing value it can contribute.
Industry experts say the right time to incorporate audio into your content strategy is now. Their perspectives and advice on podcasting, sonic branding, and sound snippets are worth hearing.
Podcasts: An investment in immersive engagement
Just how much engagement can you expect from podcasts these days? According to EMARKETER’s June 2024 industry forecast, U.S. podcast listeners will tune in for an average of 50 minutes daily.
“Humans tend to love to multi-task, and audio is the most passive way to learn and consume content,” says A. Lee Judge, co-founder and CMO of audio and video production agency Content Monsta. “You can listen to the podcast while walking or doing daily chores.”
Lee also notes that podcast assets are repurposeable, extending your production investment’s value. For example, a lengthy conversation can be edited into short snippets for use on social media. Or you can pull verbal testimonials from the show transcript for reuse on websites and in marketing campaigns. “The podcast is not the end product. The podcast is a source of content,” Lee says.
When is podcasting a sound strategic fit?
A podcast may not be an ideal fit for every marketing goal, but any brand can benefit from it — with the right approach.
“If you have an existing but passive audience or a singular premise you wish to own publicly (similar to what a book can do for you), then you may want to launch a show,” says Jay Acunzo, host of the How Stories Happen podcast and co-founder of Creator Kitchen.
On the other hand, a podcast may be a poor choice if audience growth is your primary goal. “The podcast itself doesn’t spread like other forms of content. The host must go out and promote the show, like an actor with a film or author with a book,” Jay says.
To create a successful show, Jay recommends investing in these critical elements:
- A well-developed, perspective-conveying premise
- An irresistible format that gets people to stick around through the end of the episode
- Trustworthy, entertaining talent
Just don’t expect to compete with celebrity podcasters like Steven Bartlett or Anna Faris.
Lee Judge explains, “If you’re selling industrial door hinges, your entire market may only be 100,000 people.”
That’s not necessarily bad: “If you reach 25,000 people on your podcast in a year, you’ve reached a quarter of your entire market. That’s an incredible amount of marketing touches, even if it’s nowhere near celebrity-level listenership.”
Consider side benefits and alternative approaches
When gauging the marketing impact of your podcasts, don’t rely solely on traditional podcast metrics. For example, one of Lee’s clients reported a noticeable increase in inbound inquiries, though her podcast analytics data didn’t reflect this successful outcome.
“If she stuck with what her podcast analytics indicated, she would have thought the show wasn’t working. But when people began telling her, ‘I heard you here. I heard you there.’ She knew it was working,” Lee says.
You can benefit from this format even if you lack the buy-in or budget to host your own show. Consider pitching company thought leaders as potential guests on other industry podcasts — or sharing your content as a show sponsor.
Still, Lee says the ROI is much greater if you own the audience and the audio assets. That control lets you measure performance against your goals and repurpose the content however you see fit.
Sonic branding: A signature sound with recognizable value
When certain sounds or musical triggers make your audience automatically think of your company, that’s sonic branding at work.
“Sonic branding is a system of strategically crafted sound that makes people feel something about a brand or experience,” says John Taite, EVP of global brand partnerships at Made Music Studio. “We often say that people think about what they see, but they feel what they hear.”
There’s real marketing power to be found by creating an instantly recognizable sound, like AT&T’s chimes or McDonald’s “I’m loving it” tune.
“It’s a subconscious memory trigger that kicks in when you’re making a purchase decision — be it a car or a candy bar,” John says. “Every piece of branded sound or music makes a long-term impression on a consumer — from advertising to social content to activations.”
John should know: His company is behind Cricket Wireless’s signature beep, Nature Valley’s “call of the crunch” whistle, and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch “Cinnadust!” sound.
Whether you’re a B2B or B2C brand, large or small, your organization is probably making a sound. But unless it’s deliberate, it’s just noise, says Roscoe Williamson, global creative strategy & innovation director at MassiveMusic, which creates music and soundscapes for brands.
“You would never just have a random logo, random type fonts, or a random visual identity, right? If you’re not thinking about sound in those same terms, you’re missing out [on potential branding advantages],” Roscoe says.
Roscoe cites his team’s work with TikTok as one of his favorite examples of the power of sonic branding:
“TikTok had a problem with off-site brand attribution. When people [shared] a TikTok film to another site, like Instagram or Reddit, research showed that people weren’t attributing that content to TikTok as much as the brand would like,” he explains.
His team created the now ubiquitous sonic logo that appears on any TikTok content pushed off-site — in other words, onto millions of films every week. “And, of course, there’s a sound attribute baked into that, which is now the signature sound of TikTok.”
The results from adding that sonic logo speak for themselves (based on unpublished 2024 Kantar and MassiveMusic research). Within a year of launch, 81% of TikTok users and 64% of non-users were familiar with the sonic logo, and 84% of users associated the sonic logo with positive brand attributes, describing it as “welcoming,” “unique,” and “authentic.” In addition, since 2023, there has been:
- A 15% uplift in global brand attribution
- A 25% uplift in perceived trustworthiness of the sonic identity.
How to ensure a strategic fit
Sonic branding also includes using sound for social media touchpoints, audio advertising, in-person experiences (like trade shows or in-store shopping), and the product sounds like alerts when a task is complete or an error has been made.
“Sound can be functional, but it can also be fun,” MassiveMusic’s Roscoe Williamson says.
Choosing the right sound palette for your brand starts with creating guardrails for what you do and don’t want to sound like.
“[Those decisions] should align with what your brand stands for — either its values or its tone of voice or promise,” Roscoe says. “Just having that point of view and being consistent will put those brands ahead of others [that] don’t even think about it.”
When Jeanniey Walden is wearing her Rite Aid CMO hat, one of her responsibilities is thinking strategically about the audio that plays in stores.
“We’re very selective, and we want it to make the customer feel very welcome to come into the store. We want the music to be familiar. When you walk into the store, it’s like walking into a friend’s house,” she says. “It’s an untapped resource to build brand loyalty and increase trip visits without people being consciously aware of it.”
However, when sonic branding is not taken seriously or done right, it can damage consumers’ perception of your brand. “Just ask one of the 15 brands on-air right now using the sound of a doorbell,” says John Taite of Made Music Studio. “It makes me cringe every time I hear them. My dog, Captain, especially hates it! You can’t stand out from the clutter when you are the clutter.”
Adding audio features: Sound snippets go a long way
If podcasts and sonic branding initiatives aren’t strategic fits, other approaches are worth exploring. For example, you can use AI automation to efficiently create sound content or incorporate audio features into your existing stories.
Ann Handley, author, speaker, and the world’s first Chief Content Officer, sees the ease of working with the latest tech as “an opportunity to use audio to create a fuller, richer customer experience and deeper audience connection.”
Ann says it’s not that heavy a lift to simply record a reading of your written content, as history professor and author Heather Cox Richardson does:
“[Heather] efficiently publishes text and audio newsletters by reimagining the same content for use in two different formats. Why? Because when her readers/listeners hear how her voice adds depth and richness to her analysis, they feel a deeper connection to her.”
Get an assist from AI
Brands can also give their Reels, TikTok videos, and text-based content an audible upgrade with the help of AI-generated audio overlays.
“AI is great at voicing factual information. If I’ve created a blog article, it’s useful to have an AI voice read it just like it’s written because my goal is to [help my audience] consume the facts on the page,” Content Monsta’s Lee Judge says.
While working with human vocal talent will result in a superior product, Lee says AI can be a good substitute if you lack sufficient resources. He uses this analogy: “AI is like a stand-in recording. You can enjoy watching recorded music videos, but it isn’t like being at the concert.”
Even so, AI can help you reach a global audience:
“AI can translate audio into different languages and make it available to global populations in ways that it hasn’t been done before,” Rite Aid’s Jeanniey Walden points out.
Speak with your audience
As you prepare your strategy for long-term success, consider turning up the volume on an audio strategy that can help build a loyal, trusting audience community. Whether you produce a podcast, create a unique sonic logo, or add music and sound to your existing content assets, you can compel consumers to gather around and listen.
Remember: “Audio is about resonance, not reach,” says Jay Acunzo. “Focus on activating existing audiences and turning them into superfans.”
