Podcast Audiograms: Why Do You Need Them + Design Tips
Podcasts were originally audio blogs used by content creators to share their stories with the world. But today they have evolved into powerful marketing tools. After all, any strategy that lets you strike a conversation with your customers and humanize your brand in the process will be a good one to invest in. So podcast marketing is good for businesses, you know that. But then your competitors know that too. Therefore, the key is to promote your podcast effectively and drive more audience to your channel. How do you do that? Enter podcast audiograms.
Put simply, podcast audiograms are video versions of podcasts. They help create a visual hook to attract attention to your podcast and there are plenty of applications for audiograms. Despite the benefits, audiograms are not that difficult to create after all. A little planning and the support of a reliable design team are all it takes. Thinking about giving podcast audiograms a try? You are in the right place. In this blog, we’ll tell you why you should take some time out to create audiograms, and then we’ll talk about some tips to design audiograms that actually make a difference.
Podcast marketing – why brands need to pay more attention
Before we talk about audiograms, we’ll tell you why podcast marketing is important for a brand. The number of podcast listeners in the U.S. is projected to hit 100 million by 2024. There has been a steady increase in podcast listening trends across the globe. That’s a strong enough reason for brands to consider investing time and effort into this communication tool. Moreover, below are some benefits that podcast marketing brings to a business.
- You get a chance to humanize your brand. The human touch a podcast has can break the communication barriers between brands and consumers.
- 43% of people in the age group 35-54, 50% of youngsters in the age group 12-34, and 22% of those in the age group 55+ listen to podcasts. That’s a pretty huge spread when it comes to audience demographics. Evidently, podcasts open up new doors to reach new audience segments.
- Businesses strive to build conversations with their customers so as to convince them to stick with the brand, even if the competition rises. And podcasts that add value, podcasts that entertain and engage your audience will be useful in building these conversations with them.
- Podcasting helps you create repurposable content that you can use to build your social media presence. And this in turn can help you increase the reach of your brand.
For all these reasons and more, podcast marketing is a worthy investment for a small business to consider. Since many businesses have now realized the potential of podcast marketing, the competition is getting tough out there. So, you need the best promotion strategies to make your podcast work in favor of your brand. Creating visually appealing podcast audiograms is one way to spice things up.
Podcast audiograms – 4 reasons why you need them
Lay a strong foundation for your podcast marketing strategy
According to HubSpot’s 2023 Marketing Strategy & Trends Report, 28% of marketers are already leveraging podcasts. So, you need to be creative if you wish to cut through the noise and help your brand and brand podcast get noticed. Given that podcast marketing is still in its early stages and many brands are just beginning to invest in it, now is a good time to start. And with audiograms, you get to start with a bang.
Build a strong social media presence
One of the main reasons why podcasters and brand podcast creators come up with audiograms is to create a social media presence. While many platforms like Facebook and Twitter let you share text-only posts, not many consumers stop and read them, especially if it is from a brand they are not yet familiar with. So, if you plan to use social media to grab attention and bring in new leads, then you need visual content, a lot of them.
Podcast audiograms let you create small video-like posts that help attract attention. They have the power to get people to stop scrolling and take a look at your post. And then your audio, the original content can work its magic.
Establish your brand more strongly
It takes about 5 to 7 impressions of your brand for your consumers to become familiar with it. So, a single catchy ad is often not enough. While customers might remember your brand after seeing a couple of posts on your brand page, to get a flavor of your brand personality, it takes time and effort. You need as many visual touchpoints as possible. With multiple visually consistent designs representing your brand, you are making a strong and lasting impression on your customers.
Why are we talking about this? Because podcast audiograms can be used as one of these visual impressions for your brand. The benefit of an audiogram is that it does not contain too much motion in it. There is subtle animation in the form of audio waves or minor animation of the design elements or typography. Otherwise, the overall frame remains more or less static. As a result, if you plan it well, you can use your brand colors intuitively so as to have all your podcast audiograms looking similar. And since your customer will be staring at the graphic as they listen to the audio, you have more time to create an impact on them.
For example, take a look at the podcast cover of David Tennant’s podcast.
And here is what his Instagram page looks like.
Notice the consistent use of brand colors on all the audiograms shared on the page. That pleasantly creates a pattern and strengthens the aesthetic of the Instagram page and also helps establish the brand.
Kimp Tip: Creating a template for your Instagram posts makes it easier to create visual consistency and thus maintain the aesthetic. Working with a dedicated design team is another way to ensure that your social media posts do not deviate too much from each other in terms of visual styles.
Looking for a dedicated team of designers who can take care of all your social media designs? Get in touch with the Kimp team today.
Keep up with the Reel-loving generation
The reach rate for Reels was estimated at 20.59% in 2022. So, if a better reach is one of the goals for your content strategy, then Reels can help you there. Podcast audiograms help you pick out the most engaging part of your podcast episode and convert it into a Reel. Consequently, you get to use your existing podcast shows to create Reels that expand your reach and bring in more people to your podcast.
In addition to this, Reels are known for their potential to go viral. Creating content with a viral-potential is every marketer’s dream. Ask creators who have earned thousands of followers from one viral Reel and you’ll know what we are talking about. So, if you create a visually appealing audiogram for your Reels and if this goes viral, you are increasing the chances of getting more followers on your Instagram page.
6 audiogram design tips for better podcast marketing
Convinced that podcast audiograms bring in a lot of benefits to podcast marketing? Now let’s talk about designing them. After all, your podcast audiogram is going to be another visual representation of your brand. So, you want it to be spot on.
1. Ensure that your logo is within the frame
If you do not already have a logo for your podcast, now is the time to design one. A catchy logo is the first step to podcast branding. Below is a logo design by Kimp.
Some brands might choose to reuse their brand logo for their podcast but if you are planning to branch out and let your podcast evolve into an additional source of traffic and revenue, it’s better to have a desiccated logo for it.
The above image shows the logo of Microsoft’s official podcast, .future. Though the brand has a well-recognized logo, it does not reuse it for the logo.
You can always reuse the colors and fonts from your brand logo or even choose a creative variation of your brand logo.
Once you have your podcast logo ready, ensure that it appears on all your audiograms. The position really depends on the kind of design elements you have planned for your audiograms. But when you know that your logo will appear on all your audiograms, you get direction in terms of the visual style and colors to choose.
2. Know what to have in your podcast audiograms
Audiograms are animated visuals that grab attention. But these are not like traditional motion graphics with frame-by-frame differences in elements. In most podcast audiograms you will see:
- A primary image which is often the background image
- Text that tells you the podcast name and the episode name – sometimes it provides a brief introduction to the episode too.
- Audio waves/animations that help distinguish audiograms from static images
While the above elements form the visual component in the audiogram, a snippet from the actual podcast episode is used as the audiotrack. You can have a combination of two or more of the above visual elements to design an effective audiogram. But having them all makes the audiogram feel complete. Because the visuals and animation grab attention and the text conveys the message. Together they convince the user to listen to the audio.
3. Identify the right graphics for your audiogram
You can have a solid background with a couple of images or a photo of the presenter as the primary graphic in the audiogram. Another option will be to have a custom podcast cover art designed for the episode in focus. And you can use this design as the primary graphic in your audiogram too. That makes your audiogram and the podcast episode look visually cohesive.
Here is an example. The below Tweet is from This American Life podcast.
And here is the respective episode page where the cover art tells users who land there from the Tweet that they are in the right place.
If your podcast episode features a famous personality, then using a headshot of the speaker is the best way to attract attention. Because here you are letting the personal brand of the speaker shine. On the Smartless podcast’s social media page, you will see audiograms featuring the celebrity speaker of the respective episode as the primary graphic.
Irrespective of the graphic you choose, you know well that for each episode, you need multiple graphic designs and videos (in the form of podcast audiograms) created for better reach.
One Kimp Graphics + Video subscription is all it takes to cover all your podcast marketing graphics and your brand marketing graphics + videos too.
4. Get creative with the animation
If you compare the examples shared so far in this blog, you will notice that each one incorporates a different style of animated elements. The audiograms from Bloomberg and This American Life both use audio waves synchronized with the audio track. This is one of the simplest and the most common ideas you will see on most podcast audiograms.
On the below audiogram on David Tennant’s Instagram page, you will see two image bubbles with the photos of the speakers in the podcast. And the audio waves appear around the respective speaker so you know who’s talking. That’s another creative way to add animation while also enhancing the overall experience.
Kimp Tip: If you have an illustration style or a transition style that you commonly use in most of your marketing videos, consider using a variation of that in your audiogram. This makes it easier for your audience to connect the audiogram with your brand.
5. Go strong with captions
Kinetic typography can make or break the aesthetics of a video. Animated text in the form of auto-generated captions does not do justice to audiograms. Instead, simple text overlays to indicate chapters or sections and clear captions added to your design will make the audiogram look more professional.
In the below audiogram, notice how the captions act as an extension of branding. By incorporating the brand colors and fonts, the captions here provide a way to keep the audiogram on brand.
6. Set a theme and stick with it
As you struggle to put together the text, animation, and graphics for your audiogram, you cannot miss out on the theme. The visual theme of your audiogram depends on evident factors like colors, fonts, and even illustration styles. You need them all to be aligned towards a common emotional response that you wish to evoke with your podcast.
Podcasts are meant to be engaging and emotionally stimulating. Your audiogram is often the first touch point, especially for users who come to your podcast through social media. Therefore, your audiogram needs to reflect the emotions of the podcast episode. The visual tone should align with the tone of voice of the podcast speaker.
The below audiogram on the social media page of the Stuff You Should Know podcast maintains the spooky theme intended for the episode. And it does that without leaving out any of the essential elements of audiogram design. It incorporates the logo, a waveform, and crisp text to say what the episode is about.
Design catchy podcast audiograms with Kimp
To master the nuances of podcast marketing, you need several kinds of marketing designs like podcast covers, podcast audiograms, and more. And what really matters is that they all work towards creating a strong brand for your podcast. That’s when you earn the respect and trust of your customers. While all this happens, you cannot take the rest of your marketing designs and ad designs lightly either. That’s why choosing an unlimited design subscription where you get to place unlimited design requests every month feels like the most practical step to take.
Sign up for a free trial of Kimp’s subscriptions today.