The Power of Voice: How to Leverage Podcasting for Brands and Agencies

As the digital media landscape continues to evolve at breakneck speed, one format has emerged as a consistent winner for both brands and public relations professionals: podcasting.

The global podcast advertising market is projected to exceed $4 billion by 2025. With over 4.5 million podcasts available globally, this intimate medium has transformed from a niche hobby into an essential component of modern marketing and public relations strategies.

At Worldcom PR Group, our Partners have been at the forefront of this audio revolution. From creating their own industry-leading podcasts to developing sophisticated podcast marketing strategies for clients, they have firsthand knowledge about how this medium can build authentic connections, amplify brand messages, and drive measurable business results.

The Podcast Phenomenon: More Than Just Audio Entertainment

The numbers tell a compelling story. Podcasts are expected to reach 584 million listeners by 2025. What makes these statistics particularly relevant for PR professionals is the quality of engagement podcasts generate. A high level of attention is precisely what Worldcom partners have learned to harness for client campaigns and their own thought leadership initiatives.

Why Podcasting Works in Public Relations and Marketing

From our partners’ experiences across multiple markets and industries, several key advantages have emerged for agencies incorporating podcasting into their service offerings:

Authentic Thought Leadership: Podcasts have become a great resource across numerous industries to distribute creative, valuable, and relevant content to attract and retain consumer bases. For PR agencies, hosting a podcast positions the firm as a thought leader while providing a platform to share insights, interview industry experts, and discuss emerging trends.
Client Relationship Building: The intimate nature of podcast conversations creates deeper connections than traditional marketing materials. When agency leaders appear as guests on relevant podcasts or host their own shows, they’re building trust and demonstrating expertise in a format that feels personal and authentic.
Cross-Promotional Opportunities: Podcast swaps, where two podcast hosts feature on each other’s podcasts, showed a 21% growth on a podcast in a very short period. This presents agencies with powerful networking and business development opportunities within the podcasting ecosystem.
Client-Focused Podcast Strategies: Our partner agencies have developed sophisticated approaches to incorporating podcasting into client campaigns, recognizing that 35% of senior executives or leaders listen to podcasts for the purpose of self-improvement, making this an ideal medium for B2B and thought leadership campaigns.

Podcasting is not a new topic or tactic for our partners. They have spent years honing strategies for podcasting. We have aggregated insights from them talking about generating podcasts, using them for PR planning and how they can positively impact a business.

Brand Storytelling Through Audio

Host-read ads remain incredibly popular, where the podcast host personally reads the ad, making it feel like an organic part of the show rather than a typical commercial. This approach to native advertising has proven particularly effective for clients looking to build authentic connections with target audiences.

Part of the idea of story telling is to help demonstrate thought leadership and drive engagement. Our partners covered these topics in the following insights.

Niche Market Penetration

No matter your niche, there is a podcast for it. This fragmentation, often seen as a challenge, actually represents opportunity for PR professionals. Our partners have successfully placed clients on highly targeted podcasts that reach precisely the audiences they need to influence, often with better engagement rates than broader media placements.

Global Perspectives: Cultural Adaptation in Podcast Marketing

As a global network, Worldcom partners have learned that podcast marketing requires cultural sensitivity and local market understanding. Our partners understand that what works in the North America may not translate directly to European or Asian markets. By sharing experiences in different regions, there are important insights about podcasting to understand including:

Content Preferences: Topics that resonate in one market may not work in another, requiring local market research and cultural adaptation
Platform Preferences: While Spotify and Apple Podcasts dominate globally, regional platforms may offer better reach in specific markets
Language Considerations: Multi-language strategies often require separate podcast approaches rather than simple translation

Our partners contributed their insights on podcasting for their specific markets including the following:

The Technology Factor: AI, Video and the Future of Podcast Marketing

The Global Podcasting market is expected to be worth around $26,599.1 million in 2033, up from 2,200.9 million in 2023. However, AI podcasting isn’t just about creating content, there are several ways that podcast marketing can take advantage of it including:

Audience Targeting: Using AI to identify optimal podcast placement opportunities for clients
Voice Synthesis: Creating multilingual versions of podcast content
Content Optimization: AI-driven analysis of successful podcast formats and topics
Automated Podcast Transcription: Making podcast content more accessible and SEO-friendly

Additionally, video podcasts are seen as the next evolution of the medium. As of April 2024, 33% of US weekly podcast listeners stated they prefer watching podcasts, and Spotify had over 250,000 video podcast shows on the platform as of July 2024. This trend toward video podcasting presents new opportunities for visual storytelling while maintaining the intimate, conversational feel that makes podcasting effective.

Our partners are advising clients to consider video podcasting for product demonstrations, personal branding and social media content. Using video, allows brands and agencies to show rather than just describing. We provided some ideas about monitoring, technical aspects of podcasts and ways to repurpose content.

Monetization and Sustainability: Building Long-Term Value

For agencies considering launching their own podcasts, sustainability is crucial. Only around 450,000-500,000 podcasts are actively producing new content as of 2025, with many shows stopping after fewer than 10 episodes.

Whether it is for an agency or a client, creating longevity with podcasts requires:

Consistent Publishing Schedule: Most active podcasts release one episode per week, which aligns well with audience preferences and balances consistency with production time.
Clear Value Proposition: Agency podcasts must provide genuine value to listeners, not just serve as thinly veiled promotional content.
Cross-Platform Integration: Successful podcast strategies leverage content across multiple channels, from social media clips to blog posts, maximizing the return on production investment.
Production Quality: As the medium matures, audience expectations for production quality continue to rise. Agencies must balance cost considerations with the need for professional-quality content.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Podcast Marketing

As we look toward 2025 and beyond, several trends will shape how Worldcom partners continue to leverage podcasting:

Programmatic Advertising Growth: Programmatic buying in podcasting is projected to grow substantially, with eMarketer estimating it will reach 9.3% of U.S. podcast ad spend in 2024, making podcast advertising more accessible and targeted.
Interactive Features: Podcasts will expand globally and include more interactive features, creating new opportunities for audience engagement and brand interaction.
Integration with Other Media: 93% of media buyers agree podcast hosts are valuable cross-platform influencers, suggesting increased integration between podcast strategies and broader influencer marketing campaigns.

The Sound of Success

Podcast advertising is no longer a niche trend—it’s becoming a central component of modern marketing strategies. For public relations professionals, podcasting offers a unique combination of intimacy, credibility, and measurability that few other media formats can match.

The experiences of our Worldcom partners demonstrate that success in podcast marketing requires more than just understanding the medium—it demands strategic thinking, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to providing genuine value to audiences.

Whether agencies are creating their own podcasts or developing them for clients, the key is to approach this medium with the same strategic rigor applied to any other marketing channel.

As the industry is projected to hit $25 billion by 2030-2035, the question for PR professionals isn’t whether to embrace podcasting, but how to do it most effectively. The future belongs to those who can harness the power of voice to create authentic connections, drive meaningful conversations, and inspire audiences to take action.

In an increasingly noisy digital world, podcasting offers something precious: the opportunity to truly be heard.

Ready to jump into podcasting for your brand? Find one of our global public relations and communications partners to help you with the podcast strategy.