This session was hosted by both Peter Blomme, co-founder of the Relaas podcast and audio storyteller at Chase Creative, and independent podcast creator Eva Moeraert. They invited a full table of other podcasters to discuss topics such as funding your podcast and diversity within the podcast scene.
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Sit around the table Thomas Smolders from tech podcast Computer Club, Reine Nikambote from Yaya Talks, Jan d'Hont that creates podcasts for brands with Chase Creative and Wederik De Backer who is also an independent podcast maker. Later, too, shoved Anthony Bosschem of Silence is Not an Option at the table. The first question asked was:
At the table again Thomas Smolders from the Tech Podcast Computer Club, Reine Nikambote from Yaya Talks, Jan d'Hont who creates podcasts for brands with Chase Creative, and Wederik De Backer, like an independent podcaster. Later, Anthony Bosschem from Silence is Not an Option joined the discussion. The first question asked was:
Who are you, what do you create, and can you make a living from your podcasts?
Pieter: “We make the Relaas podcast, with about 10,000 listeners per episode, reportedly the critical threshold in the Netherlands to introduce your podcast to advertisers. However, we don't really have a loyal community tied to our podcast.”
Thomas:”Computer Club has about 1,500 listeners per week on Spotify, which is a very consistent and loyal group. The proof of this is that we have a Facebook group of 500 people, and one in seven listeners has already bought a €40 sweater. Advertisers come to us because we have a loyal audience, but we choose not to pursue that. We prefer Patreon over advertisers.”
Reine: “I started Yaya Talks with Tracy out of boredom and frustration. We felt underrepresented in mainstream media. Our target audience is mainly women with a migration background or people connected to others with similar stories to ours. English and Dutch are the primary languages we use in our podcasts.”
Reverend: “I took off independent audio creator, specializing in audio fiction, radio documentaries, and podcasts. I am part of the Belgian podcast collective 'Listen, 'where my podcast'Plantractors'is featured. Together with Lucas Derycke, I work on this project, for which we invite other creators to produce a single episode.”
Jan: “Chase collaborates with organizations, companies, and publishers to develop, produce, and promote podcasts. Some of our recent clients include Mediahuis, Mediafin, KPMG, EY Belgium, ING Belgium, and the City of Ghent. We are still working on several projects that we can't share details about yet. Podcasting is one of the three services we offer, alongside Social Strategy and Social Media Management. We work with teams of up to eight creatives on a single project, and it's profitable today.”
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Host Pieter Blomme, co-founder of the Relaas podcast and audio storyteller at Chase Creative.
How do you increase the reach of your podcast?
Thomas: “My biggest struggle is promoting podcasts on social media, which is primarily image-based. I still find this very difficult.”
Reine: “I use a visual soundwave with a snippet of audio to promote our podcasts.”
Anthony: “I'm filming the podcast and releasing it as a video. The marketing value of video is huge, so combining video and audio is important. Our best episode of the year was 2 hours and 20 minutes long. It used to be considered proper to say that people don't have a long attention span anymore. But that's just not true.”
Pieter: “We organize a live storytelling evening where the audio was recorded. We notice that our community mainly talks about our stories during this event, not really online.”
Reine: “We also go live sometimes, for example at the Festival of Equality. We recorded the second season of Yaya Talks before Tracy moved abroad. The engagement with the audience during this live event was a fun experience. Sometimes we also do a Q&A on Instagram or ask people to submit questions. We left Facebook because we think it's outdated and our audience isn't there.”
Eva: “I used to resist video. But now I realize that video is an important part of promoting your podcast.”
Jan: “We try to create an audience development plan for every client. This ranges from publishing on the right platforms to social ads, media buying, and PR actions. We also advise companies to invest heavily in social video and advertise it on social media. It's especially important to consider the communicative power of the brand (for example, a large newsletter, a newspaper, or strong social media presence) and leverage that power. All of this is to build a community around the podcast.”
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Jan D'hont, COO of Chase Creative, which produces podcasts for brands, and Reine Niambote from Yaya Talks.
Let's talk money! Who handles sponsorship? Is that the most logical way to generate income?
Anthony: “We currently have five people working full-time for Silence is Not an Option. With the donations we receive through Patreon, we pay the salaries of three people. We found that this model works better than a paywall. A subscription to our platform starts at a minimum of ten euros per month. The salaries of the other two people are covered with a loan, which must be repaid within five years.”
Jan: “We see opportunities with publishers. In a perfect world, you could sell good stories or series to larger publishers, who would then find advertisers for them. It seems like it's only a matter of time before there's a possibility for podcasting here. On the other hand, micro-payments could also be a good thing. I'm happy to pay for certain podcasts. If, after a good episode, you asked me for a small in-app contribution, I'd gladly donate.”
Anthony: “I do believe working with sponsors can happen without editorial interference, but I think the Belgian market is too small for sponsors.”
Thomas: “I've turned down sponsorship offers. Going along with investors would take away the club feeling.”
Reine: “If we were to work with sponsors, it would be important to maintain the same ethical standards!”
Pieter: “With Relaas, we had Albert Heijn as a sponsor for six weeks. They paid 1,500 euros to be mentioned in six episodes.”
Thomas: “That's peanuts; I wouldn't have done it.”
Anthony: “Exactly, that's why it makes more sense for us to go for memberships instead of ads.”
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Where do you want your podcast to be in five years?
Thomas: “I want to drive more products from the podcast, but no sponsors. Maybe I'd like to collaborate with a media company.”
Reine: “I'd like to keep it the way it is now. We might be open to ads, and we're definitely open to sponsorship.”
Anthony: “I want to pay off my loan and start a 'Silence is not an option' hub in Amsterdam. This way, I want to build a bridge with the Netherlands and maybe even make it something European.”
Jan: “I hope that in the coming years we can convince companies to create podcasts with stories that people want to hear, not content that companies want to tell. I also think technological innovation needs to move faster so that in the future more podcast features will be implemented and copyright issues for music in podcasts will be resolved. Music labels could play a big role—just look at how TikTok is used to promote new music; the same could happen with podcasts.”
Wederik: “I want to continue doing what I'm doing now. Be independent and take on even more fun projects.”
Eva: “I want to create the new Flanders series and get paid for every day I work on it.”
Pieter: “With Relaas, I want to see what Silence is Not an Option is doing and draw inspiration from it.”
Why Podcasting as a Marketing Tool?
Audience. Podcasts also create new touchpoints with your audience, as they can be listened to anywhere while doing other things. When done well, podcasts can build trust and authenticity. They are ideal for marketing content, offering a great way to convey opinions and emotions, and you can also use the transcripts for SEO. The concept is also relatively new, so your brand will definitely get attention when launching your podcast. And you can make a difference—globally, there are over 500 million blogs, around 80 million Facebook business pages, and only 700,000 podcast titles, of which 250,000 are active.
Article by Helena Verheye, content marketer at Chase Creative.
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