There are different schools of thought on podcasting - some say podcasting IS the marketing, and other argue that podcasts are only tools to help promote other things (whitepapers and case studies, branding, or product marketing for example.) Regardless of which side of the fence your on, these steps will improve your podcasts immediately and result in a better ROI.

1. Regularly scheduled programming. People are creatures of habit, so the best way to improve your podcasts is to do them regularly.

2. Leave the comfort zone. Place the podcast in your blog, link to it from your static webpages, email it to customers in a newsletter, or even drive PPC advertising to the podcast. If you dedicate the time to doing the podcast, you should market it effectively and get participants.

3. Mix it up. If you are currently doing voice-only podcasts, add video - this will recapture the attention of your audience and could drive more excitement from your staff. If you do once monthly (or irregular) video podcasts, mix in some more frequent voice-only updates. Adding variety and frequency is helpful.

4. Have a point. Don’t make someone listen for 5 minutes and walk away empty handed. To get links and have your audience become your evangelists, make sure they walk away with something EVERY TIME.

5. NO SELLING. This seems like the cardinal rule, so it’s last on the list but not the least important. Unless you are Apple, people aren’t likely to sign up for advertising. If you want it to add value, provide value to your customers.

Podcast marketing is hard work, but the benefits are measurable.

Tags: Blog Training, podcast-marketing, podcast-release, podcasting

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Podcast Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.