Deliver your message with a podcast

Podcasts are rapidly growing in popularity and have the potential to provide many benefits to your business including raising your profile and updating clients. Read on to find out whether it is time for you to stop typing and start talking.

What is a podcast?

In the simplest terms, a podcast is an audio file or series of audio files that can be shared with others.

You can subscribe to a podcast in much the same way as you subscribe to an email newsletter. The “author” or “broadcaster” records an audio file on a given topic and places it on a server where it can be accessed by “subscribers”.

Podcasts that you have subscribed to are then automatically downloaded to your computer or MP3 player when new content is made available. This is done using an RSS feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It contains a content summary from an associated website and makes it possible for subscribers to keep up to date with changes or new content on their favourite websites automatically.

Why publish a podcast?

These days there are podcasts on just about any topic you can think of from business and politics to music, sport or language. Many are recorded by amateur hobbyists, fans or activists. But from a business perspective – why podcast?

Publishing a podcast can be a great way to raise your profile, get your name out there and keep your current and prospective clients up to date with the latest news from your business or industry. A podcast is a bit more personal than an email newsletter because instead of just reading, people can listen to the sound of your voice and make a more personal connection.

The business benefits of podcasting include:

Achieving trusted advisor status with your clients and prospects.
Being perceived as an expert on a given topic in your field of expertise.
Establishing a consistent branded communication channel with your target audience.
Becoming a resource for users online that are interested in your content.
Extending your brand online.
Putting a personal touch and voice to your business.
Increasing loyalty from listeners and subscribers.

Here are a few examples of Australian podcasts:

ANZ Podcasts
Choice Magazine
Free The Wine

Publishing a regular podcast can help to keep your business top of mind, particularly if you are providing useful information. But the key is “regular” so if you don’t have the time or resources to record regular topics then podcasting may not be for you.

Have you used podcasting in your business? If so, post a comment and let us know what has and hasn’t worked for you.

Come to Flying Solo LIVE! to see Melissa Norfolk present Fast track to the top of Google
Wednesday 17 September, 2008 at The Australian Technology Park, Sydney.

Melissa Norfolk is an Internet expert who speaks to business, school and community groups about online marketing, email newsletters, effective use of the Internet, finding what you need online and Internet safety.

15 Aug 07

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12 comments | Add your own 1 2 | Next» View all»

You always write nice articles - but I believe it's a hard concept for some people to work out 'how'. Perhaps the next article could be a "how to". Many people don't understand how to record an audio file onto their PC or Mac and put that file on the web, either uploading to an existing site or contributing to another. And also to say what size the file is before people download. And despite what the government seems to think about broadband, I know of many people out of city areas who can only access dialup and cannot download large files. So formats and sizes are important too because they become our clients too. Cheers. Karen from Springwood NSW
Hi Melissa - I am in the process of setting up a newsletter to support sales of my new book. perhaps I should be doing podcasts instead? Grant Hyman - www.salescentral.com.au from Sydney
Its a nice article....You write in a refreshing way Melissa. Keep up the good work!
Podcasting is simple, it can be done by recording your message and having it in a downloadable mode.
One piece of advise though for everyone...Don't try to run before you know how to walk. Podcasting will always be a next step to having a user friendly and search engine friendly website which gets targeted traffic and has a good navigation.
Its also advisable to keep the podast limited to a certian size otherwise ongoing ramble can be irksome to users. Anup from www.searchenginerankings.com.au from Melbourne, Australia
Hi Grant,
No I would definitely suggest that a newsletter and/or blog is probably the better way to go to promote your book. As a podcast is more for a series of programs - like a radio program. And the regular contact and SEO benefits of a newsletter archive or blog would allow you to get your message out to a much broader audience quicker. Melissa Norfolk from Melbourne | Read my articles
As a professional audio producer and engineer, I strongly believe that a podcast should not only contain compelling content, but also exhibit high production values. As one podcast commentator said recently 'everyone and their Grandmother can produce a podcast and everyone and their Grandmother is producing a podcast!' With all the programs in the marketplace, it's important to ensure that people who switch on, stay on. I also agree with Melissa, that due to podcasting's subscription model, producing a series is the best way to engage with your clients, staff and customers. Derek Allan, sonic-id.com.au from Sydney
Hi Melissa, I believe I got it! Everyone can read a newsletter but only people with special tool (e.g. iTunes,iPod) can download and listen to podcasting.
Judit Nagy from www.theofficewitch.com.au from Sydney

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