For any business owner willing to mix a little creativity with the new technology, podcasting is a great way to get your message out to a wide market. Here's why:
1. Use It as a Smart/Sexy Brand Builder.
The key is to create a podcast that fits your brand. For example, if you're a realtor specializing in New York City office space for small businesses, then your podcast should involve all things related to that (e.g., how your space makes an important statement about your business, how to maximize square footage with good interior design, how to decide the best neighborhood for your business, etc.) Depending on how well it's done, it also establishes (or reinforces) a forward thinking leadership perception of your business.
2. Use It to Create Broad, Free, Easy Distribution.
They don't call it Really Simple Syndication for nothing. RSS feeds, like Feedburner and iTunes, allow a worldwide audience to subscribe to your podcast with a simple mouse click. Both Feedburner and iTunes offer directions on how to incorporate their technology for your podcast.
3. Use It as an Ad Media Outlet.
A podcast is like having your very own advertising media outlet. So take advantage, but don't be tacky. Use a soft-sell approach with tasteful promotional plugs during the intro or outro of the podcast. You can even subtlely incorporate them as part of the program content. Because of the strong niche aspect of podcasting, interested listeners will be more receptive to your on-topic message.
4. Use It to Garner Outside Advertisers or Sponsors.
If you're feeling ambitious (and have the Web traffic to support it), you can also sell outside sponsorships within the podcast or on the website.
5. Use It to Deepen Your Relationships With Clients and/or Prospects.
Turn guests into clients. An interview format makes it easy to invite a guest that you'd like as a client. It creates a great opportunity to initiate and develop a respectful relationship with a prospect who might otherwise not take your call or e-mail.
6. Use It as a New Business Builder.
Podcasting is both engaging and educational, providing the opportunity to build credibility, establish value and ultimately convert. Know your audience's hot buttons and then offer your company's product or service-related insights, tips and solutions. For example, a corporate law firm might discuss the various differences and benefits of incorporating a business versus using an LLC. Or perhaps have a podcast on the legal options of money collection from deadbeat clients.
7. Use It as a Terrific Promotional Tool.
If you've got a particularly relevant and pithy 15- or 30-second audio sound bite from a podcast, you can create an audio clip and e-mail the attached mp3 to a current prospect. The audio clip makes a stronger emotional impact, and the "tease factor" of a small mp3 attachment makes it an effective e-mail tactic.
8. Use It as a Great Product Demo Opportunity. (w/video podcasts)
Any time you can effectively demonstrate your product attributes, do it. And with a video podcast, you can. This worked perfectly for an industrial blender company, Blendtec. Their videos of various (and strange) objects being successfully blended created a viral marketing phenomenon.
9. Use It as a New Kind of Public Relations Vehicle.
For new product intros, latest news, etc. For example, a company introducing a new product or service could invite its in-house inventor or developer to be interviewed on a podcast. A magazine (much like this one!) could invite its most interesting and relevant contributors to be interviewed on their podcast.
10. Helps with Organic Search Engine Optimization.
Your podcast "show notes" are your text description of the content (i.e., the things being covered in the podcast).They act as an informational preview to hopefully convince people that the podcast is worth a listen. The more relevant the text (key words and links), the more magnetic it'll be for searches. The issues and tactics involved with driving traffic to a podcast are similar to those for driving traffic to any website. But I believe it's always better to go the organic/non-paid route to improve your search rank, and that's where good "show notes" help.
Remember, it's not just about the new technology, it's about the innovative application of the new technology.
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