If you check out the feed of FedEx’s branded company podcast, you’ll see a set of “bitesize” episodes.

Making it work

It’s a really well executed way to get additional content and engagement from the work that goes into producing narrative episodes of a show. In the case of Making it work, they take their full-length episodes, which run about 35 minutes, and pick out the best quotes for the 5 minute bitesize versions.

Finding the right clips and recording new narration from host Kelli Martin over it so the abbreviated themes work is significant work, and Fedex does a good job with it. I listened to a bitesize episode first, liked the insights from it, then checked out the original version. Both do a good job of being clear and compelling in their different lengths.

Making it work also has another clever tactic that more brands could leverage: an internal promo code to drive listener actions from the show! Of course lots of direct-to-consumer and other companies advertising on podcasts use promo codes to track behavior from podcast listeners. Brands who want listeners to further engage can take the same approach. Make sure you have a dedicated web page or subdomain, direct people to it in the episode notes and script, and include a discount of deal to make it compelling.