How podcasting just works for business

How podcasting just works for business

Podcasts have the power to create a bond between you and your customers.

Nothing engages your customers like audio and video. Speaking to people

directly helps build trust, convey information, and articulate what your business

has to offer in a far more effective way than reading brochure text on a website.

“nothing engages your customers like audio and video”

A podcast is also another way for people to discover you since people search on

iTunes and other directories for podcasts in their area of interest. By connecting

with this community of interest, you can generate customer loyalty and new

business.

Podcasting works for your business by creating a community around it, based on

the usefulness of the information you share with potential clients and customers.

This also positions you as an expert in your field and someone who is committed

enough to it to put on a show. It is important to use podcasting in this way, rather

than as a sales pitch. This is not the place to sell your wares. If you want to do an

audio ad, call your local radio station. A podcast, like other forms of social

media, should focus on your audience and providing them with something of

value. Include a call to action, and the sales will come later.

A podcast, like a blog, is a content tool that becomes more powerful the more

content you add. A regular podcast, like a regular blog, builds up a back catalog

of information that people will keep discovering. And since each episode of your

podcast will be delivered on a separate page of your blog, along with show notes

and possibly even a transcript, there is plenty of textual content and links for

search engines to index too.

Get up to speed with podcasting

Podcasting can seem an intimidating social media tool to use, as there is more to

it than starting a Facebook group or setting up a blog. But it is really not that

scary if you approach it with the same principles as other forms of social media.

Think about what valuable, useful content you can provide. Focus on your

audience, be relevant, authentic, and informal and include a call to action at the

end. Don’t go for a hard sell think infotainment rather than infomercial, and

leave them wanting more.

The technical aspects are also fairly straightforward if you follow these steps:

plan, record, produce, deliver, and promote.

1. Plan your podcast—choose a style and format.

2. Record your podcast—choose your equipment.

3. Produce your podcast—editing, post-production and music.

4. Deliver your podcast via your blog.

5. Promote your podcast—get listed in iTunes.

Plan your podcast

What sort of podcast are you going to produce? What works well in your

market? Start with a search in iTunes for keywords in your field and see what

podcasts are available. Subscribe to those that interest you. iTunes has a

dedicated section for video podcasts too—have a look there if you’re

considering video podcasting.

Audio or video?

One of your first decisions is whether to produce an audio or video podcast. This

might partly be constrained by available budget since audio podcasts are

generally cheaper to produce. But they also work well for communicating

knowledge. If your content is primarily interviews, you may as well do an audio

podcast rather than a video with talking heads. Video podcasts work well when

there is a practical, visual element to what you want to communicate. If your

content is based on tutorials, you can also produce a video podcast cheaply by

using some software called Camtasia to record PowerPoint slides, or whatever

you’re doing on-screen, for example to illustrate how to use software or web

services. The video tutorials for this book are an example of that.

Choosing a style and format

For a video podcast based on online tutorials it’s fine to do the voiceover

yourself, but for an audio podcast it is more interesting for the listener to have a

co-host than just to talk at people yourself. Interviewing guests also breaks

things up and adds new voices.

Have a listen to some podcasts in your area, or just those whose style you like.

You don’t have to copy your competition, but if you find a style you like, feel

free to adapt it for your niche. Do you want to do a magazine-style show with

co-hosts and interviews like the Guardian Media Talk podcast, for example?

Listening carefully to well-produced shows like this will give you some clues as

to where to play in the intro music and ideas like highlighting forthcoming

interviews with some extracts at the top of the show.

“have a listen to some podcasts in your area”

How long should your podcast be? The received wisdom, based on various

surveys, has tended to be an absolute maximum of 20–30 minutes for an audio

podcast and 5 minutes for a video podcast. Shorter is generally better with

podcasting, however—people have short attention spans online, and even 3–5

minutes for an audio podcast may be sufficient. However, this isn’t right for

every audience. Invite feedback on your first few episodes, and your audience

will soon tell you if they think it’s too long or too short.

Once you start podcasting, don’t feel you have to stay on a treadmill of

producing half an hour every week forever.

You must Promote your podcast

first

Get listed in iTunes

iTunes is the Google of podcast directories—you absolutely must get it listed

here. Others include PodBean.com, Podcast Alley, PodcastDirectory.com,

Podcast Pickle, blubrry, and Odeo—but the vast majority of people will go

straight to iTunes.

“iTunes is the Google of podcast directories”

1. Open the iTunes program. You can download this for free from

www.apple.com/itunes if you don’t have it.

2. Sign in to the iTunes Store. You’ll need to create an account if you don’t

already have one.

3. Click the “Podcasts” section in the top navigation.

4. Click “Submit a Podcast” in the right-hand menu.

5. Enter in your podcast feed URL. Make sure this is the one you created in

Feedburner rather than your original feed address from your blog so that

Feedburner can track your stats.

Final measure your success

Your customer ratings and reviews on iTunes will give you a sense of how well

received your podcast is, along with feedback on your blog and audio comments.

But there are other quantitative statistics you can use too:

• Your Feedburner statistics will tell you how many subscribers you have.

• Your web stats will tell you how many times your audio files have been

downloaded.

• If you use a podcast hosting service, it will provide these stats.

• If you use unique landing pages—a web address that is only mentioned once

on a specific podcast—you can measure how many people have taken action

as a result of listening to your show and visited your website.

Take action

• Listen to a few podcasts in your field to research your market.

• Plan your podcast style and format.

• Record your first podcast—interview an expert in your field.

• Produce your first podcast—familiarize yourself with Audacity.

• Deliver your podcast using a blog and Feedburner.