Reaching your target market is getting increasingly difficult. Users are getting savvier and can get information from many sources. You need to embrace this medium as an additional and very powerful way to reach your market. Users are wanting information when they want it, how they want it, and in the format they want. The smart new media marketer needs to look at delivering content in a way that is geared to user preferences.

Podcasting addresses these issues in a variety of ways.

5 reasons to use podcasting in your marketing mix.

1. You can distribute your content to a wider audience with podcasting. The distribution of your podcast via RSS significantly enhances the value of your audio content.
2. Additional exposure and internet visibility. Your podcast can be found in multiple RSS, Blog, and Podcast directories as well as in the search engines.
3. Ability to target your market niche and deliver content that is specifically geared to your audience’s needs, wants, and desires.
4. Users can stay “tuned in” to your channel and you can deliver (push) content to them instead of making them return to see what is new. This is an additional direct marketing channel that the user has opted in to.
5. Allows you to reach your market both “when they are online” and when they are “on the go”. Users can put your podcast on their portable media player such as an ipod and listen to it when they are away from the computer.

The important thing to remember about using podcasting as a marketing tool is that you need to provide valuable content to your audience to keep them engaged, informed, entertained so that they become regular listener to your podcast.

This content should be value added and not a sales pitch. Audio is a very influential marketing medium, use it wisely and you could see great results.

Rodney Rumford