By Karen Kroll
More than 158 million people in the U.S., or about half of Americans 12 and older, listen to podcasts each month, according to RSS.com, a podcast hosting platform. News podcasts are the most frequently downloaded, followed by true crime and comedy.
The U.S. podcasting market size is forecast to grow by about 19 percent between 2025 and 2030, Grandview Research reports. Several factors are driving this growth, including the increasing popularity of streaming services and the expanding adoption of smart devices.
Podcasts’ popularity offers opportunities for financial institutions, as well as news organizations, detectives and comedians. A podcast is one way to create value and build relationships with clients and prospects, says Caleb Stevens, vice president and director of marketing for the correspondent division of Florida-based South State Bank, which hosts The Community Bank Podcast.
Many business owners are interested in thought leadership from banking industry experts, says Amanda Swanson, senior director with Cornerstone Advisors. On the consumer side, some older millennials and members of Generation X will be coming into inheritances soon and want to be smart about how they invest, she says. Podcasts can offer insight and expertise that adds value and builds on the bank’s credibility, she adds.
Getting started
Stevens launched South State’s podcast in the summer of 2020. With COVID raging in many parts of the country, bank employees couldn’t travel to meet clients and prospects. Podcasting offered a way to continue building relationships, rapport and trust, he says.
Because South State’s correspondent division provides solutions for other community banks, such as cash management services, the podcast focuses on topics relevant to those in the banking industry. The economy is one such topic. Strategy, including banking trends, digital banking and mergers and acquisitions, is also a popular subject. Podcasts on leadership and culture make up the third category, Stevens says. By providing insight on these subjects, South State demonstrates its belief in community banks, and its hope that they continue to thrive. Episodes are published about weekly and run 30 to 45 minutes.
Sunrise Banks, a bank based in Minneapolis, launched Social Currency in March 2024 with a slightly different mission. The podcast is “for changemakers, innovators and mission-driven leaders who are building a more equitable future,” says Grace Schiffman, Sunrise’s marketing manager. The podcast is also geared to organizations seeking a banking partner aligned with those values, she adds.
At the same time, the podcast has evolved into a relationship-building and brand-positioning platform for prospective customers, as well as strategic partners and collaborators within the fintech universe, banking and the social impact ecosystem, Schiffman says. Social Currency both raises awareness of Sunrise Banks’ mission and values and creates opportunities to cultivate partnerships with organizations that share the bank’s commitment to financial inclusion, social responsibility and community impact, she says.
To reach its target audience, the podcast highlights individuals who are shaping the financial sector through their innovation and thought leadership, says Tyler Seydel, chief fintech officer and the host of Social Currency. A recent episode featured Barbara Freeman, founder and chief executive officer with The Savings Collaborative, a nonprofit focused on helping others build financial resilience. New episodes are released about monthly and run between 25 and 50 minutes, he says.
Jeff Wilkinson, formerly chair and chief executive officer with Keystone Bank, launched the Banking On Community podcast in 2018, when Keystone was new to Austin, Texas. The goal was to raise awareness of the bank and reach customers and prospects by sharing the stories of Keystone’s customers and investors. “Many of the people moving to Austin were entrepreneurial minded and likely interested in how other entrepreneurs had navigated their journey,” Wilkinson says. (Keystone is now part of Third Coast Bank, and the podcast is on hiatus. Wilkinson is a director with Third Coast and chair of the Austin market.)
Each episode ran about a half-hour. “It wasn’t an oppressive amount of time for the person being interviewed but offered time to interact,” Wilkinson says. The bank did about 10 or 12 each year.
Keys to success
It’s critical to determine the point of view the show is trying to convey, and how it fits within the bank’s overall marketing plan, Stevens says. To launch a podcast just because it’s cool can lead to “return on ego versus return on investment,” he says.
Podcast production value: How important? A podcast’s production value can be as low or high as a bank wants, says Stevens of South State Bank. Basic requirements include a microphone, a way to record and edit a conversation, and the ability to push each episode to the podcast platforms. It’s not hard to handle these tasks in-house, he adds. Sunrise Banks takes pride in producing its podcast on a shoestring budget, Seydel says. “It’s really a Yeti mic and then some graphic designer’s time editing,” he says.
At Social Currency, the most successful episodes tend to spotlight innovative products and services that fintechs are building to help democratize access to the financial system, Schiffman says. “I think these conversations resonate because they explore how companies are expanding access to tools like financial education, credit building and other essential financial services,” she says, adding that such discussion is compelling from both a business and consumer perspective.
So far, Social Currency has exceeded expectations for viewership growth, Seydel says. “We’re excited to keep the momentum going,” he adds.
Promotion and results
Potential listeners can choose from the approximately 4.5 million podcasts registered around the world. Not surprisingly, capturing attention for a specific podcast typically requires intentional effort.
SouthState promotes its podcast through LinkedIn and its weekly blog, Banker to Banker, which has about 12,000 subscribers, Stevens says. Consistency and persistence are also key, he says. It took South State about a year to start garnering consistent positive feedback. As a podcast continues, it builds credibility, which can make it easier to capture the interest of potential guests, he adds.
To be sure, it’s gratifying to have more listeners and subscribers. However, it’s also important to check that the podcast is reaching people who could be potential customers or clients, Stevens says.
The Community Bank Podcast currently averages about 3,500 downloads per month, up from roughly 500 when it launched. Stevens cautions that changes to the algorithms or user interface by a podcast service can dramatically alter download numbers, even with no change to the show itself.
In addition to downloads, South State has other ways to check whether the podcast is reaching its target audience and creating value. During a show, the host might mention a conference or e-book the bank is offering, along with a link listeners can use to register or access the material. Through the link, the bank can trace the number of people who listened to the podcast.
Anecdotal information can also provide insight. Salespeople occasionally tell Stevens that they’ve been able to get in front of prospects because of the podcast, he says. One prospect had ignored the salesperson’s emails for years, but took his call after listening to the podcast.
Sunrise Banks promotes Social Currency through a combination of paid social media campaigns and targeted advertising, Schiffman says. While paid promotion has been effective in increasing visibility and introducing the podcast to interested listeners, the strongest engagement and highest listenership come from episodes that are actively shared. “Podcasts are still very much driven by trust and personal recommendations,” she says.
The Banking On Community podcast would link its social media and marketing efforts with those of the organization for which its guests worked, Wilkinson says. At one point, the podcast was garnering more than 10,000 downloads, “which apparently was a magical mark,” he says. Wilkinson says he heard from investors and customers, as well as people in the community and the financial services industry, who enjoyed the podcast.
Breaking through
Given how saturated the podcasting market is, as well as the many demands on potential listeners’ time, podcasts that offer only “run of the mill” insight likely will struggle. Those that offer thought-provoking insight are most likely to gain momentum, Swanson says.
Podcasts that reach their intended audience can be effective in building relationships. Podcasting is one of the most intimate forms of marketing, Stevens says, as the host and guests are literally in listeners’ earbuds or with them in their car. “In today’s economy, that’s a lot of time when someone gives you 40 minutes of their ears and their attention,” he adds.
HEAR THIS
Listen to ABA’s own podcasts — the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, now in its ninth season, and the ABA Fraudcast with Paul Benda — at aba.com/podcast.
Karen Kroll is a regular contributor to the ABA Banking Journal.
