Podcasts, newsletters, forums – this is the future for brands.

Platforms and content mediums, including podcasts and newsletters will become even more important as brands try to diversify their reach. 

The world of PR is vast – gone are the days of lunches with editors and pitching in clients! We use a number of platforms, techniques and opportunities to build relationships with journalists and the same goes for brands interacting with consumers. Anything from podcasts to forums like Reddit – all present PR opportunities for brands. These new mediums provide dedicated and niche audiences which helps brands to target their ideal customer. Although one must be careful when using these new platforms – it’s best to be upfront rather than try to manipulate and plant information.

Let’s look at podcasts for example:

• 1.3 million podcasts are recorded in English.

• Over 19.1 million Britons listen to podcasts.

• 40% of UK podcast listeners are aged 26 to 35.

• 48% of Britons listen to podcasts to learn something new.

• In 2021, £46 million were spent on podcast advertising in the United Kingdom.

• In 2020, the average ad spent per podcast listener in Great Britain was £2.31.

Newsletters are another platform that is seeing traction in terms of connection with consumers. Newsletters are not new but the psychology behind how to communicate with your audience has a lot more research behind it now, and can really make an impact. We encourage brand collaborations to help reach new audiences and build up recognition and association – newsletters are a simple way to create a collaboration if budgets are small. We must highlight the importance of being GDPR compliant across your business.

• There are 4 billion daily email users. This number is expected to climb to 4.6 billion by 2025. (Statista, 2021)
• More than 306 billion emails are sent and received each day. (Statista, 2021)
• 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers. (Campaign Monitor, 2021)
• 37% of brands are increasing their email budget, and just 1.3% are making cuts. (Litmus, 2021)
• The most effective strategies for email marketing campaigns are subscriber segmentation (78%), message personalisation (72%), and email automation campaigns (71%). (HubSpot Blog Research, 2021)
• 33% of marketers send weekly emails and 26% send emails multiple times per month. (Databox, 2022)