The Power of the Podcast: Unlock Your Brand's Marketing Potential

Podcasting for Future Business: What’s Working in 2025

• Pedal Stomper Productions - Josh Troche • Season 2 • Episode 14

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Welcome to 2025 where podcasting isn’t just a medium anymore, it’s a movement. In this episode, we dive deep into what the future holds for content creators, especially small business owners and marketing professionals who are ready to use podcasting as a serious marketing tool.

We begin with the seismic shift that AI tools are bringing to the production world. From generating high-quality voiceovers to near-perfect transcriptions, AI is making podcasting more accessible and efficient. But it's not just about convenience, it's about creating content that’s polished and professional without needing a Hollywood budget.

Next, we explore the rise of immersive and spatial audio. Think 3D soundscapes that put your listener in the middle of the story, drawing them in emotionally and experientially. This isn't just for fiction podcasts, this technology can elevate branded podcasts and educational content in powerful ways.

Discoverability is changing too. Platforms like Spotify are breaking the mold by recommending podcasts based on listening behavior and duration preferences, while Apple is still favoring the top charts. The playing field is leveling, giving niche podcasts a real shot at organic growth.

Engagement is the new frontier. Interactive features like polls, quizzes, and choose-your-own-adventure-style paths are turning passive listening into active participation. Plus, the potential of gamification, leaderboards, badges, and listener milestones adds layers of community-building that keep audiences coming back.

We also examine how augmented and virtual reality could integrate with podcasting. Imagine walking through a historic site while hearing a podcast and seeing the relevant visuals through smart glasses. It’s not far off, and it’s going to change educational and branded content dramatically.

And of course, we cover the ever-important topic of monetization. Ad revenue is growing year over year, but smart podcasters are also exploring subscription models, premium content, and direct audience support. These aren’t just income streams, they’re tools for building deeper relationships with your audience.

We wrap with a critical message: the future of podcasting belongs to those who prioritize quality and stay flexible. Whether you’re an experienced podcaster or just starting, understanding these trends and how to apply them will keep you ahead of the curve.

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Josh Troche:

It is 2025. In fact, we're almost halfway through it, and we're trying to figure out what the future holds for podcasting. I do not. As you see right here in front of me, I do not have a crystal ball. But I have been watching the trends and I've got a pretty good idea of where we are headed. If you're curious about that, stay tuned. Thank you for coming along this week. As always, it is great to have you. It's always nice to be in your ears. Do me a favor. Subscribe. Like follow all the other happy stuff that everyone else is asking you to do. I would greatly appreciate it. You would help us in getting out to a larger audience and to a larger community that we want to share with you, so that way we could all do better at podcasting with that. Diving right in. What does the future hold for podcasting? I think there's some pretty cool stuff coming up, because when you look at it as a whole, podcasting, I mean, the landscape has changed, but how it's done it, it's it's evolved a little bit. But when you look at it compared with ten, 15 years ago, there's a lot of it's the same now. I think some of it is going to stay the same with the speeds and stuff like that. But how can we make this easier, better for everyone involved? How do we make it easier for our audience to find us? How do we make it easier for us to produce things? And I mean, we want to make sure that we're producing at a high level because let's face it, no one wants to listen to garbage. I don't. Pretty sure you don't. That being said, A.I. tools. Oh, you knew I had to come out of the gate with just, swinging for the fences here. AI tools have become huge in not just podcasting. In everything. We're going to talk about some of the things that I, I see coming around the corner and some of the things that we're even currently doing. The first thing is, is like there's AI voiceovers that, I mean, once again, to do them as a full podcast, you kind of hear it. Even some of the better ones. You're like, there's something up to do a 10 or 15 second voiceover ad or an introduction to actually work really, really well. You want to create a trailer, you want to create an advertisement, or if you're just looking to kind of supplement some of your narration, or you need to even go back and you screwed something up and you need to change what you said. Some of those AI tools can work very, very well for that. Additionally, let's talk dynamic soundscapes and adaptive soundscapes. I right now we're going to talk about some sounds later, but you can get this immersive quality with some of that stuff. The other thing that we're looking at is what you can be able, what you may be able to do in the future is some personalized sound effects. Let's say you're going to have your own things that work in the episode. You're going to have AI tools that will allow you to make those sound effects that you need. So that way you're not grabbing from a pool where everyone else is grabbing from. Additionally, AI powered editing tools. Let's talk about that. We use a ton of them now. They're still at a stage where you need some smarts to be able to use them. That's kind of why our company exists. But when you look at noise reduction, leveling, audio, even suggesting some edits, boy, have they come a long way. Even at what I would say in the past year and a half, two years. There is stuff that we're able to clean up that we were not able to clean up two years ago. We can make people sound much better now. The thing with that is, is you still hear all sorts of podcasts where it's a crappy zoom meeting on the other end. A lot of people don't know how to use these tools. These tools aren't automatic. So knowing how to use these tools is where some of the stuff comes in with this. But the fact that we currently have these tools at our disposal to help us with stuff like this is amazing. Now, the other one that I want to talk about, AI and the text AI is going to transcribe your stuff into text. We use AI for that currently and it works very, very well. Now there's a number of areas where it's still got some shortcomings. We have a host. The gentleman's name is Tuesday Angelina. Yes. AI has no idea what to do with that. So we know to go in and search hits. We search it usually like comes up with like Tuesday or tomorrow is what I comes up with on that. So we go in, we have a macro built in where we can replace that stuff. The fact that it gets so much of the rest of it correct is really, really good. Two things that does for you. First off, accessibility. Anyone that's hearing impaired, now, they can read the transcript of your podcast now. And a lot of people like, why would someone read my podcast? I say hearing impaired, not necessarily deaf. Someone that's deaf can read your podcast now too, which is awesome. But some people have problems picking up on words. Words become muffled if they're able to read along with it. They can listen to the podcast to get the emotion from it while reading it, to make sure that they get the words correct. You open up a whole slew of of people out there that want to have access to your content, to your brand, and you give them that with this. Additionally, once again, SEO optimization, if you say the right things in your podcast, you have that ability to get that transcribed. And now those words are out there to be searched. So what happens on the listener side when it comes to podcasts and how you find them? We've all scrolled, and it's interesting because most of the time you're seeing podcasts that are the top podcasts or the ones that are being suggest it. I know, especially Apple Podcasts, really suggests the most popular podcasts. And if you do not have a popular podcast on Apple, or if you have not reached out to people directly, Apple is not going to show that to anyone. As as the podcast platforms grow, especially with ones like Spotify. They are starting to create these tailored podcasts experiences based on data. Everyone felt like before this that a lot of people think that your podcast platforms work the same way that, like the social media algorithms work. They truly do not. Spotify was one of the first ones to really start to do that, where they start to make those like. Here's a suggestion based on what you already listened to, rather, and they will pull from some of these more obscure podcasts. Whereas Apple's just like, hey, here's the top 100 podcasts. These are the ones that were going to push this really. I mean, using those algorithms to analyze those listening habits, those preferences. Now people, they're going to start to look at like, how long are you listening? Are you listening to 20 minute long podcasts? Are you listening to hour long podcasts? Are you listening to five hour long podcasts? It's going to start to look at that type of information, to say, okay, this is a person. They're looking for podcasting information. They like hosts that are enthusiastic and they want something that's around 2020 five minutes. Sound like anyone you know? That being said, they're going to be able to recommend the podcast that is going to fit the best, not just the top podcast that is that is already out there because that becomes that perpetuating cycle. If it's a top podcast. Those are the ones that they're going to suggest, and it's just going to build and build and build on itself. This will pull some of those more obscure podcasts into someone's feed, because in so many cases, that obscure podcast may sit with that person wants better. The thing that I love about that is that will help with that. The the discovery for many, many, many podcasts is from the the producer side as a listener too. The other thing is, is I always love discovering new podcasts and sometimes it's tough. I have to go out and find them because in many cases the platforms aren't pushing those to me. So that is one of the biggest things I think about this from the listener side of it. You've got a podcast app. It's suggesting episodes based on the topic, the duration, the who else is listening to it. It's going to look at all those things. To me, that really becomes a win for everyone and it starts to democratize the podcasting space and make it so there's a why you're going to get that wider. I don't want to say wider audience. You're going to start to get that larger audience that's very focused on what you do. To me, that is the as we start to see more and more of these things happen and more of these tools roll out, that is a win for everyone that has a niche podcast, because let's face it, you may not get promoted by Apple Podcasts currently, but there's a chance that you do in the future. The next thing that I want to talk about here, the power of immersive audio. There's all sorts of 3D sound and spatial things that make for just a better listening experience. I actually I don't go to many movies. I went to a movie recently, and what was interesting is, is there was a gunshot in the movie that went through a window, and the window was on the screen, and I distinctly heard the gunshot just barely before you heard the window break. And the gunshot came from behind me, and the window break was in front of me. To me, that hugely drew me into the theater. Now I was there with my partner and she was. I'm like, did you notice the gunshot was behind us? And she's like, no. But I really felt drawn in. And that's the difference from a production side. I'm like, oh my God, that's awesome. What it does to most people that are just listening, like for an entertainment thing, it really draws them in as some of these AI tools, as some of these spatial audio technologies move forward. We are going to be able to pull more of that into a podcast. Now, like I said, and you guys have heard me say this all the time when it comes to sound design, you should only notice it when it's not there. Like if I watched that movie again and all the sounds came from in front of me, then I would notice that, wait, something's different. But most people are not going to notice that that shot came from behind them. That to me is really, really cool. And that's one of those things that once again, this becomes so much more of an immersive experience now. And it we talk about how the connection with podcasting is just so, so tight and I'm in your ears, I'm in your car with you. There's a number of you I get messages from saying, hey, I was just listening to you in the car. I am so grateful I am allowed to come on the commute with you. But now, if you're hearing different things out of different speakers, this once again draws you in even further. It's just going to be so much more realistic and so much more engaging as we can do those sounds from specific directions. To me, once again, it's that it's that deeper connection that we're going to get. Now, what's another thing that I see coming for podcasting? Let's make this more interactive. Should we? I mean, to me that sounds like an awesome, awesome thing. It's one of the reasons why we tell people, like, if you're looking to grow your audience, stay with podcasting. If you are looking to engage with your audience, that's where you go live. What happens if in your podcast you can put some interactive elements? Let's talk maybe a poll, maybe a quiz, maybe there's even a question and answer session. Maybe you got that Q&A session in there. Those are all things that can really draw people in. Hey, let's go ahead and take the quiz and let's see what you guys think about it. And maybe from there, who did it raise your hand. Maybe not. If you're driving, who did any of those choose your own adventure books when you were younger? Maybe with a poll or a quiz. The podcast can go one direction or the other. Do you want to hear about this or do you want to hear about that? Once again, it's that interactivity that can really just boost that level of engagement. In the same sense, I see some more gamification with stuff. Maybe there's points, badges, leaderboards, whatever, something to incentivize that listener engagement and do create that sense of community. One of the things that I always talk about it, we host a number of podcasts with Buzzsprout and they give you little awards, like you've published your fifth episode, you've got your 5000, 5000 downloads. It's those types of things that make you really look forward to doing the next thing. And it's funny because I get this, this little ribbon on my screen. It's not even a ribbon. I get to say there's no trophy. There's no it's just a ribbon on my screen. But it's still that feeling of, yeah, there's an accomplishment here. If you can gamify that, if you can put the points on it, if you can put those badges for your audience to say, hey, Bob has listened to every episode we've had. Bob has listened to ten episodes in a row. Thanks for listening, Bob. Those are the types of things that can really help, once again, raise that engagement and make sure that you've got people coming back time after time after time. Additionally, I Google Glass is one of those things that was ahead of its time it came out. It failed, I get it. The same thing with the Apple like VR headset that was supposed to be like augmented reality. But I tell you what, I can see some of that coming for podcasting because now what we can do, instead of just having this video element where I'm going to have to like, let's say I wanted to pull up a chart or a graph up on the screen up there. I could do that, but if you're just listening to the podcast, well, you're going to miss that. And maybe, just maybe, you don't want to watch me talk this whole time. I get it, totally understand it. I feel bad for for editing staff when they have to go through and edit me and watch me the whole time, so I, I get that. But what would happen is, is if you have like an augmented reality headset or something of that nature where if I talk about podcasting statistics or I mean really anything like that, where there's a picture, a chart, a graph, it could pull that up in that augmented reality setup, those visual overlays could really just add that extra element of, hey, I may not want to watch the whole thing, but I don't want to miss these charts, these graphs, or just these numbers being displayed for me. To me, that could be huge. The other one that I really thought about with this that I thought was so cool. Imagine a history podcast with some are you're out for a walk someplace, and they start talking about some historical artifact that could come up on your screen so you could still be out walking, but then you could see this artifact right in front of you. To me, that's amazing. These are the types of things that like entertainment and especially, like educational podcasts. Holy Toledo, could this be huge? This is just one of those things where I'm like, you know what? This is? I'm excited for this. I'm truly, truly excited for this. As we continue, I see that there's there's I mean, every couple of months, there's new social media platforms and there's new ways to look through some of these platforms that are coming out. Additionally, there's some that go away. I see that as podcasting grows. Podcast video podcasting wasn't a thing until a few years ago, and it very much is now. It's one of those things that I see this growing, and I see it taking on different forms. Before, you couldn't do more than a minute and 30s either on TikTok or Instagram Reels or anything like that. Now, I believe TikTok is up to like 20 or 25 minutes that you can do. You can almost put your whole podcast on TikTok. These expanding platforms are, I think, going to I mean, they're changing all the time. The short form audio and video clips are able to get much longer. And the big thing is, is that changes that discoverability. I know I've said the future, but I think the future part of it is here, because I think all of these platforms become even more important to podcasting because there's a support element. Some people just want to hear 2 or 3 highlights. Some people want the whole thing. This gives you the ability to do all of that. The next piece is monetization. I always talk about that because there's there's so many different ways to monetize a podcast. Everyone just thinks that it like it is like YouTube. I build it, I get some subscribers, and suddenly the back, the dump trucks filled with money up to my doorstep. That's not how it works. But the good news is, especially over the past number of years, podcast ad revenue continues to grow each year. Brands are embracing that. This is a targeted I mean, a targeted reach. There's high engagement rates. I mean, if you're talking if your podcast talks about baking, the I mean, no one that doesn't like baking is what is listening to this podcast. So this is a great place to market your baking pans or whatever. I mean, there's all sorts of ways to do this. It is a highly engaged audience and it's a niche audience. This is directly the way to talk to your people. With this, there's there's still the dynamic ad insertion, which is currently in podcasting, and there's talks about it coming to YouTube on a video side of things. So you can do the dynamic ad ad insertion. There's still native advertising. The big thing that I want to cover with this in why I say there's a future in this podcast, ad revenue continues to grow. The fact that with that, there is going to be new ways to capture that revenue coming up. Now, that's not to say that your podcast necessarily needs to go out and find ad dollars from someplace else, but what I am saying is there's all sorts of other tools that if there are available for advertisers and you have a branded podcast, there's going to be a way for you to use those tools within your branded podcast to benefit your business. To me, that is huge. Additionally, I am seeing more and more. In fact, we just talked with someone about this the other day. In fact, we talked with three people the other day about this subscription models and premium content. You've got direct audience monetization there. They can do ad free listening. You can give them bonus episodes. You can give them early access. You can give them bonus interviews. You can give them behind the scenes content. You can give them exclusive question and answer sessions. Nonetheless, there the paywall you can do. And what's funny is, is so many people are willing to spend nine, nine, nine, nine a month to do that. If you're looking to have that added bit of content, put that behind that paywall. And that is how your content not only pays for itself, but it can pay for itself and support your brand at the same time. How do we build a sustainable podcast into the future? That's the big question, right? I mean, with all that, with all these cool tools, with all these changes going to be available here. There's a couple of things that I'm going to say with this. The one you need to be doing video. If you are not doing video with your podcast, you are missing out on such a huge opportunity because there's so many platforms out there that support video. Go do that. The other thing that's going to be available that I mean, I see more and more people do is they are live streaming their podcast recordings, so they will do a live stream. In fact, one of our clients, we do this every couple of months for him. He will do 5 or 6 live streams, and then we take the recordings and we polish them up for him, take some of the the bits and pieces out of the live that didn't go as well. And that turns into a podcast later. Same. It would be like a Q&A session in many cases. The other big benefit with that is that live interaction with the audience and the something else that I really want to cover in terms of diversification. We talked last week, and if you haven't watched it or listened to it, go back and get that episode. We talked about different ways to do your podcast, whether it be having a narrative storytelling type of set up or whether you're going to do different seasons for stuff. Explore some of those different formats because you want to make sure that you're versatile enough moving forward, that as things change, you're ready to change with them. If you're going to build a strong online presence, you have to engage with your community. Letting them sit is just not going to cut it, because the more the trend that we are seeing is, the more engaged, the more responsive, the more excessive you are, the better you're going to do as we move forward. It seems like these tools are giving us all that accessibility to people that I mean before. I mean, you could have called into the radio station 20 years ago, and, you know, when you pick up the phone, you may have gotten a busy signal. This is the type of stuff that helps to ensure that if if you're sending a message that it's going to get through, you're going to you're going to get that authentic connection with that podcast or with that person. That's what the people are looking for from you. So make sure that you are engaging with people because they will then tell you what they want to see in the future. Coming up. The last big piece that I want to talk about this focus on quality. Make sure that you're you sound good. Make sure that you look pretty good. Make sure that you are telling a quality story. Make sure that you are giving people a value for their time. These are the things that will make sure that as we look to the future, you will stay in the game and your podcast will stay relevant because that's a it's just a huge portion of this. So let's let's summarize a couple of quick things here. First off, AI is revolutionizing podcast both from a production and a personalization standpoint. I am here for it. I'm excited for it. I hope you are too. Immersive audio. Be on the lookout for this. Listen for this. When you're listening to podcasts, see if you're hearing stereo elements. As of this point. Social platforms make sure that you are looking for new ones that crop up. Getting in early can often be a really big help when it comes to gaining followers. Make sure that your modification strategy fits your brand and your business. And look to see like where that's evolving. If you see more revenue coming in and an area. Lean into that. If you see less revenue coming in and an area that you've monetized. Pull back from that a little bit. The big thing. Sustainability relies on quality and adaptability. I tell people, don't make these wild swings. Don't change everything. Don't 180 degrees every other week. Adapt slowly. Change little things to make sure that you and your podcast are constantly getting better. One of my podcast hosts, she always asks everyone at the end of every episode, what's something that a business owner can do to get 1% better? What's what's a piece of advice that you can give them to give 1% better? Because those are the things that when you add them up, make a huge, huge difference. Hopefully in this podcast you found something that would make you 1% better. As always, do me a favor. Take care of yourselves. Can take care of someone else too. I will see you very, very soon.

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Josh Troche

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