Business Podcast Microphone

I had a conversation with someone the other day about various forms of marketing in today’s world, with all the technology we have nowadays compared to say 10 years ago. This person wasn’t too out of touch with what you could do now, but they certainly weren’t an uber-geek! We were on the subject of podcasts, and how they can benefit businesses within their existing marketing mix. This person thought, by the name podcast, that you needed an iPod to play it on! (Bless…)

This, naturally, isn’t the case at all. A podcast is usually just an mp3 file that is hosted online somewhere. Most businesses tend to have a dedicated page on their websites just for such a product, some choose to have them hosted elsewhere. Some also publish them through iTunes for ease of client/customer download. My method of choice at the moment is to have them hosted on a website, so that when the customer has gone to the relevant page to listen, they can still click through the site while they’re there, to hopefully find some other information of interest.

It’s all in the hook to get people to your website, to make them stay there; and for when they go, to make sure they come back. I’m a strong believer in having multiple devices to keep my audience entertained and interested in my website, who I am and what I do; and these days, it can get harder and harder to do so!

So what would you put in a podcast?

Well, it can be any number of things, information or news about your business for that month, new projects you’re working on, bits of music to keep attention; but one of the most popular ways is to give the listener something of great value either for them personally, or for their business. Useful tips on how they can improve things, promote themselves better, industry advice, new updates on regulations in whatever industry you’re in which could affect them. A marketing company for instance could do a ‘Top 5′ list of little things a business can do to get noticed more easily. The ideas really are only limited by your own imagination and creativity.

Most businesses send out mailshots or newsletters on a monthly basis, so you can even combine your podcast with that existing production; either replicating the content in audio form so the receiver can choose which one to take notice of – either read the newsletter or listen to the podcast while they carry on through their inbox.

How easy are podcasts to distribute?

Very. By hosting them on a dedicated page on your website or blog, you simply include the relevant link at the top of your existing newsletter for the recipient to click on. If you’re getting fancier, you can always insert a nice image to represent your podcast and hyperlink that to the page instead, so it looks even prettier!

So, my advice to you all is to try it, experiment with podcasting, and even get cracking yourself if you don’t want someone like me to do it for you. Shake up your marketing mix and see what podcasting can do for you and your business.