Using Podcasts to Grow Your Business

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Barb Cagley of SCK threw down the gauntlet! She asked me to share some of my secrets for using podcasts to market and grow a business.

While this topic doesn't necessarily fit neatly into a "startup tools" checklist, I thought you may find some of my tips helpful.  And since Barb asked, I will share some of my key learnings after running a successful podcast series going on 4 years (since 2005). 

Podcasts are nothing more than audio or video recordings that are made available on the Web.  Podcasts are distributed via RSS feeds, where they can be downloaded by listeners to portable MP3 players, iPods, iPhones -- or just listened to on the computer.

Mostly in the following tips I will focus on audio recordings, although occasionally on video podcasts, too.  This will be a 2-part series.  In this first part, I cover 5 general considerations for those considering podcasting:

 1) Start with the end goal in mind -- Decide up front what your business goals are with the podcasts.  If your goals are fuzzy, your podcasts are likely to lack focus, too.  And how will you know if the podcasts are meeting your goals, if your goals are not clear in your own mind?

Consider: Will you be using a podcast to establish yourself as a subject matter expert?  To provide a service to existing customers?  To promote a book? To lure in potential new customers by giving them something of value without the high pressure of a sales pitch?  Here are some examples of how other businesses are using podcasts:

- Consultants give monologues that amount to mini-seminars on useful subjects, showcasing their expertise

- Publishers and associations provide interviews and industry news via podcasts

- Accountants and tax advisors give tax tips

- Businesses share news about the company, perhaps to complement a newsletter 

- Software companies explain new product features and benefits

- A label company uses video podcasts to demonstrate how to use label machines, special label supplies and similar how-tos

- Librarians give tips for researching information

- A golf coach uses podcasts to help golfers improve their games

- Authors develop an audience by sharing excerpts, back-stories and insights from their books

- Companies give their sales forces motivational messages (internal use podcasts)

 2) Decide on a format and length -- Before diving in, think through and decide upon a format.  I'm constantly amazed at the variety of creative formats I see in podcasts.  There are podcasts that give a 60-second how-to lesson.  There are podcasts that are 15-minute tutorials.  Still others provide motivational coaching. Others are daily or weekly tips and advice.  Other podcasts are 30-minute interviews, either of a single guest or multiple guests. Some are videos that demonstrate a process or how to use a product.

Consider your goals; the amount of time you can devote to a podcast; and your ability to do multiple podcasts over time.  For instance, consider:

- Video podcasts take longer to prepare and edit, and more equipment to create than audio. 

- Interview series take considerably more time than monologue podcasts:  you have to schedule and interact with guests; do background research; prepare interview questions; and communicate with prospective guests who inquire about being on the show.  All of this takes WAY more time than you'd think.

- Will it be live like a radio show or strictly pre-recorded?  Live takes more planning and requires a different platform to broadcast.

- Daily 2-minute tips podcasts sound easy.  But do you have the discipline -- and enough material -- to actually make 260 recordings in a year?  And do you actually realize that it may take you 30 minutes to compose and edit a tip tightly enough to present it in 2 minutes?  Copy editing is like that quote of Mark Twain ("If I'd had more time, I'd have written you a shorter letter").

3) Remember the marketing -- With anything you publish on the Web for marketing reasons, you also have added the responsibility to promote it.  Otherwise, you won't get many listeners - and thus little value - from your effort.  

Do you have a marketing staff?  Are they savvy with the online world and familiar with things such as RSS feeds, podcatchers and blogs?  If not, do you have a fast learner who is eager to become the in-house expert?  If it's just you, are you willing and able to spend the time learning? 

You're going to need to know your way around a few online tools, sites and concepts.  They're not hard to learn, but take some reading and experimentation.  

If your business isn't up to it internally, consider outsourcing to a marketing firm that understands the online podcasting world.

4.) Consistency is key -- Consistency is vastly underrated in business.  If you are trying to build an audience and expect customers and the public to listen regularly, then you have to be regular in your approach.  Listeners want to know what to expect. That means:

- Stick to a regular schedule of podcasts -- You can't build a regular audience if you broadcast a podcast once every 3 months.  Or if you issue 3 podcasts one week, and none for the next 7 months.  Pick a schedule and live by it. For instance, if you say you are going to do podcasts weekly, then live up to your commitment to your listeners.  One of the benefits of podcasts is that listeners can subscribe via RSS feeds through iTunes and other places.  If no new recordings are forthcoming, after a while people unsubscribe.  But if they know they can expect a new podcast from you each Wednesday, they will look forward to it.

- Keep your length, topics and format consistent - Variety is nice once in a while, but for the most part people want to know that they can download your podcasts to hear a certain type of information.  If one week you are ranting about the elections, and the next week giving motivational coaching to your clients, could you blame them if they get confused? Or annoyed because you've wasted their time with off-topic politcal jabbering when they were expecting coaching?  

5.) Consider the trade off: numbers versus deeper engagement -- For most of us, reading is faster than listening or watching video.  With that in mind, consider this trade off:

- Perhaps 10% to 15% of the business population is actually going to listen to or watch podcasts.  You will get far more people reading your newsletter or blog, for instance, than listen to podcasts. Podcasting is not about large numbers per se.  So you need to go into it accepting smaller numbers.

- But those who download your podcast will give much more mindshare to it at a time when they can better concentrate on your message.  They will take your podcast with them on planes, trains, long car trips, while working out, while waiting in doctors' offices, while gardening.  Think about all the times you see people in public places with earbuds listening to their iPods. Those are all potential places where you can reach someone with you audio message, whereas you probably will not reach them in those places with your newsletter, white paper, blog, etc.

We're all looking for that extra 10% oomph in marketing, right?  Think of podcasts as extending your reach to an additional 10 to 15%.  You will achieve deeper engagement with that 10 to 15% you reach with your podcast.  To me, this is the compelling reason to do podcasts.

Conclusion

Finally, if this all sounds like a lot of work to do your own podcasts, do what some people do:  apply to be a guest on someone else's podcast.  Or try to get a radio interview with a station that also offers podcasts of its shows.  Then you can get the benefit of podcasting without all the work.

If I haven't scared you off, look for my next series which outlines 10 tips and tools for getting started in podcasting.