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Audio Podcasts Are Creative and Informative Ways to Market Your Business Online

Monday 13 January 2014

10 minute read

By Sarah Burns

Don't freak out and don't panic at the amount of work involved, but this week we focus on podcasts.

Probably the most important point to make is: if it's the right form of advertising for you then it will be much more worthwhile and effective than a text-based blog.

Podcasts are typically defined as: “A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of files (either audio or video) subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication.” (Wikipedia). The term ‘podcast’, first coined in 2004, is an abbreviation of ‘Personal On Demand Broadcast’.

Of course, podcasts won't be for everybody, but this form of digital marketing advertising is essential to those companies who want to thrive in 2014. Reviewing your inbound marketing strategy will help you analyse just whether your audience and purpose suit this style of online marketing. Content creation isn't just about writing text, podcasts can do it quicker and simpler - they're also fantastic for improving content sharing.

The creating, editing and publicising of podcasts, as you might imagine, requires a little more dedication, time and focus than other strategies (Facebook, Twitter, blogging...), but it’s rewards can be greater too. Becoming a podcast creator is all about generating more content so that you open up your company to a new audience – those looking for tech-savvy companies and those wanting to engage with companies willing to try new things.

As with any new technology or skill, it’s best to consider the what, why and how, so we have compiled (as ever) a step-by-step introduction to podcasting!

Important considerations to make when starting out with podcasting

  • Who? You! Creating a podcast is all about personality and developing a persona with which your audience can identify, therefore increasing brand awareness. Another way of creating podcasts is introducing guest speakers i.e. industry experts, key figures in your area of expertise or including snippets from others with a relevant comment.
  • What? Podcasts can either come in audio or video format, so consider which style is best for you. If you are happy broadcasting your face, consider using Skype rather than audio files, some sources suggest this can only improve audience ratings (Mashable). Only ever create podcasts which revolve around usefulness, so if you have a few technical shortcomings, or the content isn’t 100%, your listeners probably won’t mind. To ensure that you have the most professional-sounding podcast possible use an audio editing platform (you can download Audacity for free) to wipe out white noise, awkward pauses and generally smooth out playback quality.
  • When? Try to only come up with a clear time frame for podcasting. Plan your time for the upcoming weeks/months, depending on the regularity of your updates (i.e. daily, weekly, bi-weekly) and decide when you can create, edit and schedule podcasts for. Don’t forget that regularity will only strengthen your audience’s loyalty to your content, so make a plan and stick to it. Subscriptions can make it harder to initially find an audience, but once you’ve got them signed up, it means they are more likely to be returning audience members.
  • Where? The best place to put your podcasts depends entirely on your content, your preference and your brand’s suitability to various platforms. Typically, podcasters automatically post to iTunes, but consider other hosts and also create a blog which stands alongside your show. On the whole, companies already have a blog set up but if you don’t then it’s essential when creating podcasts. You can include notes from your show as well as resources such as white papers and links to things you may mention during your show. The blog also works well as a forum for conversation, i.e. the comments section on each blog post.
  • Why? Each podcaster has their own reasons, but there are three main factors in the appeal of podcasting, as far as we are concerned.
    • Audience reach: There are many businesses and people on the internet who will only connect with another business if they are impressed by them. Yes, this can be done through what you’ve achieved and what others say about you, but why not impress them with how you portray these things? Being tech-savvy appeals because it shows you are willing to put time and effort into your web presence, as well as being able to grasp modern technology – not all companies can.
    • Creating content: Your web presence’s reputation is usually based on how much content is created, as that tends to bump up your visibility on search engines. So why not create a podcast, which requires a blog to go alongside it and has a greater ability to impress visitors than any social media profile or lone-standing blog post.
    • On-the-go: Podcasts are typically downloaded onto laptops, tablets, mobile phones and iPods. What are all these things? Portable. The beauty of podcasting is your content can be taken anywhere, listened to anywhere and shared with anyone, anywhere else. You’d be slightly foolish to not see the potential of having content which is much easier to access than pretty much anything else.

A vital piece of advice to podcasting success is: only ever speak about what you love! Have you ever listened to someone who droned on and on about the weather, paint drying, [insert boring task here]? Their monotone voice and unenthusiastic tone does nothing but put everyone off. If you are trying to sell your brand story then it’s unacceptable to sound anything less than 100% dedicated, eager and positive.

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