4 Ways Podcasts Support Political Advertising
We are well into a major election year that extends far beyond the presidential race. People around the country will be voting for Governor, Congress, and State Houses, as well as Mayor, Judges, Sheriff, School Board, and the list goes on.
If you are a candidate – or support candidates via independent expenditure (IE) – podcasts for political campaigns could help you or your candidates of choice stand out and reach more people.
A podcast allows you to deliver your message in your words
When a candidate appears on a TV news segment or participates in a live debate, they can go off-message, fumble an answer, or downright make a mistake. This can then cause a backlash that will take days or even the entire election season to fix.
It’s not that the candidate isn’t smart. Politicians fumble when speaking live all the time. When you’re live, you don’t have the benefit of an aide whispering talking points in your ear. You need to be able to react thoughtfully, and some people just can’t do that.
With a podcast, you have the freedom to deliver your top platform positions in your own voice. And you can take the time to craft your messages to ensure they are not misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Podcasts allow for more effective messaging
TV, radio, web, and even print ads are too short to deliver a full, effective message. And they can get costly; Video production alone starts in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Podcasts allow a candidate to speak at length about the issues their constituents care most about and what you are doing now – or would like to do once elected – to address these concerns. Podcasts are also easily quotable for news outlets, and the audio recordings can even be repurposed in your own ads.
Plus, you can field questions from constituents beforehand and answer them during podcast episodes.
Podcast episodes can be prepared ahead of time
Once in-person campaigning kicks into high gear, it will be hard to find the time to sit down and record podcast episodes.
If you already know you’re on the ticket, you can do the leg work now to get your podcast ready to launch this summer. You can start mapping out and then recording a series of 10 episodes that address your top campaign positions. And you can always make revisions before (or after) publishing down the road!
Once campaigning begins, you can record new, shorter episodes as needed. For example, if you slip up in a debate, you can issue a correction in a podcast episode. This saves you the trouble of appearing on live TV and explaining yourself while being peppered with nonstop questions.
Starting now is ideal, as the first episode always takes a few weeks to go live. Once your first episode is up, we can publish new episodes significantly faster (1-2 days for production and 1-2 hours for distribution).
Podcasts are much more affordable than video
IE organizations spend a fortune on TV and media buys during every election cycle.
Imagine the impact of crafting more stories in the voices of your donors or thought leaders within the organization. A podcast allows you to do this much easier and more economically versus multiple videos that require multi-day shoots.
FREEBIE! The proper way to record a political ad disclaimer on your iPhone
One of the reasons companies and organizations choose to work with us is because they know their podcast audio will be high-quality. Specifically, we make sure:
· There are smooth transitions between segments
· Volume is consistent from start to finish
· It is free of background noise, reverberation, odd pauses, and audio cut-outs
· It contains no – or few – ‘um’s, ‘like’s, and ‘you know’s
We don’t typically recommend recording anything on an iPhone, but more often than not it becomes necessary to record a political ad disclaimer in this manner.
We also don’t often publicly endorse software products or companies, but in this case we’ll make an exception. The free TwistedWave Recorder allows for recordings that bypass the iPhone’s internal audio processing, making for more natural recordings. If anyone knows of another app that does the same, please let us know!
You can access our guide here.
We will produce a political podcast you can be proud of
Our team of podcast production experts have years of experience working with top political media consultants. Of course, we are happy to work directly with the campaign or IE.
We will manage every aspect of the production, quickly handle the unexpected during pre-production, production, and post-production, and deliver episodes that sound top-notch every time. Contact us today at info@volubilitypodcasting.com to schedule a free consultation and learn how we can record your podcast remotely from the campaign trail.
