5 ways to measure ROI of B2B podcast sponsorship
What’s the ROI of a B2B podcast sponsorship?
This is the question I get most often from potential sponsors who are considering advertising on the Innovators Can Laugh podcast media network.
Having utilized podcasting as a growth channel for startups I worked at such as Bonjoro and OptiMonk, the best and easiest way to assess the impact of your podcasting efforts is to ask “How did you hear about us?” in your signup flow.
This way you can directly attribute podcasts to new leads or customers. If you want to take it a step further, you can also ask “Where else did you hear about us?”. Now days, for B2B buys, it takes an average of 35+ touchpoints on multiple channels for buyers to make a purchasing decision. So, it helps to asks that additional question.
The effort to implement this is minimal and this is something I ask all our sponsors to do. (see example of RepsMate’s form that now includes this question)
But if you’d rather do things the hard way, here are four other ways to measure a B2B podcast sponsorship.
5 Ways to measure the ROI of a B2B podcast sponsorship
Promo Codes
When I hear the phrase ‘promo codes’, I cringe. Promo codes can easily be forgotten and most of the time they won’t be remembered by the listener. Especially if like most listeners, the person is listening to the podcast while working out or driving in traffic.
But if you insist on trying to track podcast efforts, you can ask the host to read the promo code alongside the ad and include the promo code in the show notes.
Vanity URLs
Vanity URLs work great if the podcast you are advertising on is Joe Rogan or Tim Ferris. Those names are familiar and the listener will more than likely remember to enter /Tim or /Joe on whatever landing page you created for the podcast.
But if your vanity url is hard to remember, then it will be difficult to accurately assess podcast ROI.
Similar to promo codes, this involves creating and providing a vanity-tracking URL that links to a specific landing page you created for the podcast. Like promo codes, you need to have the technical infrastructure to support vanity-tracking URLs.
Segmentation Tracking in Google Analytics
If you are advertising on a very popular podcast, you may expect a spike in website traffic. To directly attribute a lift in traffic to a podcast, you can setup segmentation in Google Analytics. Here’s how:
Step 1: Open a report in GA and select + Add Segment
Step 2: Next, click on + New Segment
Step 3: Name your segment using the name of the podcast, then add filters (e.g., podcast domain, landing page you’re promoting in the on-air mention).
Step 4: Monitor the segments you created by filtering your traffic down to Source/Medium OR by simply applying the segments to the All Traffic view in GA.
Trial offer
Another way to measure the impact of a podcast sponsorship is to provide an exclusive offer to the audience of a specific podcast. A trial offer can be a straightforward way to measure the results of your podcasting sponsorship efforts. An exclusive offer or discount code can be read on-air by the host or included in the show notes.
UTM Tracking Codes
A UTM code is a basic snippet of code added to the end of your URL to assist with tracking the performance of content and social media campaigns. There are 5 URL parameters available for tracking, including: Content, term, campaign, medium and source.
They are very easy to setup and podcast hosts can place them in the description of the episode, in a newsletter, or in the YouTube video description area.
Here is an example of a UTM tracking code sponsor Dealfront provided to InnovatorsCanLaugh:
https://www.dealfront.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=body&utm_campaign=innovators
source = podcast
campaign = innovators
Because of this UTM link, Dealfront can identify whatever traffic my podcast, newsletter, or website sends to their site.
Bonus….
As mentioned, the easiest and best way to measure the success of a B2B podcast sponsorship is to add the question “where did you first hear about us?” in your sign-up form. You can either leave the field blank or have multiple choices to choose from with podcasts being one of the selections.
When it comes to podcast sponsorships there are many benefits. An increase in brand awareness with your ideal target audience, new relationships built with podcast listeners and the host, and then of course new revenue. Remember though, it’s best to run sponsorships on multiple podcasts and be a frequent sponsor of the show over a long period versus just doing a one-time ad on one episode.
By the way, if you'd like to generate more high quality leads and grow your brand awareness through podcast ads, B2BPodPros helps you execute a smart podcast marketing campaign without you lifting a finger. But hurry because unlike Google or LinkedIn ads, podcast ad sponsorships are limited.
Other articles around podcast marketing you might enjoy:
👉 10 podcast ad examples to elevate your b2b podcast campaign
👉 Most underrated podcast marketing strategy
👉 Strategies for Maximizing Return on Investment (ROI) in B2B Podcast Advertising Campaigns
