Using Podcasts in Your Marketing Strategy
With technology ever-evolving, some of your old marketing strategies may not be working quite as well. Direct mail postcards, brochures, television ads and radio ads don’t have the same punch if people aren’t looking or listening to these avenues for information.
You’re competing with streaming video on a personal computer, television shows sans commercials on a cell phone and online news sites that have their own advertising avenues. How can you keep up with hippest technology to make sure you’re getting to your target market?
One word: podcast. Podcasts are video or audio files that are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players, like the iPod, or computers. The term is a mash up of the words “iPod” and “broadcast” since the Apple iPod is the brand of portable media player for which the first podcasts were developed. These scripts are downloaded and then transferred to a mobile device to listen to or watch.
Podcast topics are as varied as the Internet – news, industries, trends and anything else you can think of have been podcasted. There’s even a For Dummies book on podcasting! Podcasts can last from a few minutes to a few hours (although the longer ones are less popular).
Podcasts appeal to people because
• they allow people to multitask. Many customers and clients are busy people. They don’t have time to read your latest book or your magazine article. But they can listen to your podcast while driving to work or while they’re exercising.
• people can get advice and info that feeds their self-improvement needs. Clients enjoy listening to CEOs and other experts that they can learn from. Podcasts are like their own personalized lecture.
Podcasts are great for establishing yourself or your CEO as an expert. Podcasts that share industry info, advice and insights create an impression that your business is filled with people the public can turn to for advice. Podcasting only takes a few hundred dollars to start for the equipment and distribution costs, so it’s a marketing strategy that can bring in a high ROI.
To create successful podcasts, your broadcasts must be concise, casual, clear and consistent.
Concise: Focus on one topic for each podcast. Remember they can be a few minutes long to a few hours long. Shorter ones have better success because, well, if people had a few hours to read a book then they would! Don’t get too longwinded in your discussion, but keep it chatty and …
Casual: Use real-life examples and simple language to get your point across. Don’t use jargon that people will need to look up in a dictionary or online. Don’t use too many statistics and “academic” talk. Talk like you’re talking to your best friend.
Clear: Make sure the volume of your recording device is up high enough to capture your voice and nothing else. Be sure to record in an area where you are free from distractions (a bar or a kid-filled living room is not a good idea).
Consistent: Pick a podcast schedule you can stick to. If you can only get to it once a week, fine. Just make sure you do it once a week, preferably on the same day each week. If you can only get to it monthly, that’s fine too. Just make sure you’re on a consistent schedule so that your listeners know when to expect you.
Once you create a podcast, you need to make sure to promote it. Include a link on your Web site and add a link to your email signature. You can also include your podcasts in your print advertising in magazines or newspapers. Just get the word out because people can’t listen if they don’t know it exists!
How Networking Can Help Your Business
You and your business are very much alike in many aspects. For example, both would end up lonely and unfulfilled without any friends. A company builds its group of friends through networking.
Networking can come in many forms and fashions. Most popular today are the various networking opportunities existing online. There is a long list of possibilities in this arena. Some include cross promotional arrangements, newsgroup participation and social networking site membership. The Internet can provide for a large and rapidly developed network.
However, just like you, your business needs to also step out into the real world. A popular venue for flesh and blood interaction is trade shows. They often present a great forum to distribute your color business card far and wide. Business card printing rates allow for you to be quite liberal in their distribution versus other possible marketing materials.
After you have developed a wide network it is critical not to ignore it. Just like with friends in your personal life, your business friends need attention as well. Build and nourish your company’s network and the dividends will quickly become evident.
How Cross Promotion Can Work For You
Many moons ago a cavemen probably agreed to tout how warm his friend’s woolly mammoth furs were. In return, his friend would tell everyone about the sharpness of the shark’s teeth he was hawking. Hence was born the first cross promotional arrangement.
Today’s interactive world obviously entails far more sophisticated arrangements. However, the core concept remains the same. Your company has a universe of customers. Another company has a different grouping of customers. Both sets could have the proclivity to buy products from either company. Assuming you are not direct competitors, it becomes a win-win situation to leverage each other’s customer base.
Being an exchange, the arrangement takes up neither party’s cash flow. Enhanced marketing exposure with no corresponding expense is a rare opportunity that should not be passed up.
As with all relationships, it is important to be careful of the company you keep. Assume you own a commercial printing service. You probably would not desire to host ads advocating the increase of postage rates. That would most likely not sit well with your customer base.
Like always, do your research. Know all the details of the cross promotion arrangement you are about to sign. Assure you are dealing with reputable partners. Done right, cross promotional arrangements can bring your company to the next level.
Building Customer Trust: Marketing Services vs. Products
How important is customer trust? Let me elaborate -
The more centered around a service a company is, the more I’m going to want to know what the people working there are like long before I walk through their door.
If I’m going to go shopping for a new computer, I’m going to want good service too but if the place has a really good deal on a certain model then I might still end up grabbing it for the savings alone.
If I’m going to a dentist, for example, how well he cleans me teeth isn’t necessarily as important as how much he puts me at ease.
I’ve never been a big fan of the dentist, and I admittedly put it off for longer than I should. So when the day comes and I finally do pick a dentist, the additional bonus of knowing I’m going to get a follow-up greeting card from them in the mail and receive a thank you note afterwards does wonders to relax me and lets me be confident in the service I’m being provided.
Marketing Through Information
I’ve always been involved with various short story magazines. Who knows how many monthly newsletters I get, or other information on how they’re doing. Knowing how well they’re issues sell or what they’re planning to do next is such a simple thing. I know they aren’t spending much money printing all of those newsletters and business brochures given how small most of these companies are.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve looked at a magazine only to forget it a few weeks later. I might’ve even enjoyed the issue, but if I take in too many things at once, remembering isn’t always the easiest thing. But one thing I know: when I get those newsletters, I know exactly what magazine I’m dealing with. If I’m close to a place, I like to know how they’re doing and if I’m looking at so many different companies it isn’t easy to remember who they all are. Given the affordable nature of it, it just doesn’t seem to make much sense for a company not to take advantage of keeping their customers up to date. I’m always going to remember the magazine that took the time to write up a nice looking newsletter than the one who doesn’t seem to care either way about the business I bring them. I can only hope more companies come to realize how much this works. It would be nice to feel a little more appreciated.
Entry by Philip Roberts
