Making the leap into podcasting

Alex Gallop, marketing communications manager at AluK explains how to engage with customers through podcasting

Podcasting certainly isn’t new to the window and door market. Under the guise of Renegade Conservatory Guy, Matthew Glover, the founder of the FIT Show, was recording podcast interviews with various business leaders way back in 2015.

It’s only in the last couple of years though, when face to face interaction has been so difficult, that businesses have really started to see the potential of the podcast medium as a way of engaging with customers.

If you look at the latest Ofcom research figures, it’s easy to see why. 55% of men and 45% of women now say that they listen to a podcast at least once a month, and the figures are even higher in younger age groups, with 63% of 16- to 44-year-olds and 48% of 45- to 64-year-olds listening regularly.

They might have got into podcasts initially via True Crime or Peter Crouch, but they’re now consuming a much broader selection. 38% of regular listeners tune into between three and five podcasts per week and 20% between six and 10.

Overall, 61% say that they are listening for entertainment and 52% to learn something, and this is probably the motivation that businesses can tap into if they want to launch a podcast of their own.

In October 2021, AluK dipped our toe into the podcasting world for the first time and the response was really positive.

We hosted a round table event at our London Design Studio inviting key industry figures to discuss the potential implications on the window and door market of the upcoming changes to the Building Regs. While we reported the key points of the discussion on our website and in the trade press, we felt that the topic was of such broad interest that a podcast was probably the best way to share it with the market.

Because it was our first venture, we brought in the experts to help, and that really paid off. By hiring a professional company to check the room acoustics, set up and carry out the recording, and then produce our final edit, we ended up with something which was crisp and professional.

The results speak for themselves. We’ve already had almost 100 downloads of the podcast and it’s reached the heady heights of number 123 on Apple’s Tech podcast chart.

We’ve now started working to identify the topic for our next podcast and we plan to make it a regular part of our marketing and communications programme.

AluK’s Podcasting Tips

  • Select a topic which has genuine market appeal, and remember it’s not an advert for your business
  • If you’re not sure about the technology or the format, hire in the professionals and listen to their advice
  • Choose a confident (and ideally experienced) interviewer or host
  • Don’t be afraid to have more than one person being interviewed – we had eight people at our Round Table, and they all had something interesting to contribute
  • Remember though that everyone needs to identify themselves the first time they speak or it’s too confusing for the listener
  • Check the acoustics of the room before you start recording
  • Keep the length of the finished podcast to an optimum time of around 45 minutes
  • Host the podcast on the most popular platforms – we used Spotify and Apple which are still the top two
  • Promote the podcast on your website and social platforms – 31% of podcast listeners get their podcast recommendations from social media and 26% from word of mouth

All the information on our Part L Round Table and the link to download or listen to the AluK podcast are at: https://www.alukgb.com/learning/fhs