Business Podcasting

Portable audio and video players are everywhere. With this new technology comes the fast growing industry of podcasting. So how does your business use Podcasting? Podcasting has evolved over the past year as a new medium for broadcasting. It has merged the terms "ipod" with "broadcasting" and formed what we now know as "Podcasting", or personal on demand casting as industry insiders are labeling it. Major corporations are just now beginning to see the benefits of podcasting on a national basis. But the best part about this new industry is that it serves the local city and state communities as well, by using nanocasting services. Nanocasting is a model for commercial podcasting based on established media and direct marketing principles. Nanocasting differs from early podcasting by beginning with a clear definition of the target audience, the business model, the revenue model and use of a system specifically developed for targeting commercial audiences called RTS (Really Targeted Syndication). The objectives go beyond advertising, sponsorship and subscription based thinking to use podcasting in very creative, customized, commercial applications designed to achieve specific measurable business goals. In order to develop a highly effective business podcast, the first and most important factor is targeting; a plan must be developed that identifies your ideal customer. Podcasting is a medium that offers unparalleled access to niche markets, based upon consumers accessing content on-demand to their specific tastes. In most cases these podcasts are series, where subscription based "tagging" or RSS technology, allows the user to click a subscribe button once, and receive all the updates to come in the future as soon as their published. This sort of medium, coupled with this technology, allows businesses to identify consumers, and it gives direct input into their lifestyle preferences, habits, wants and needs. This makes podcasting an extremely viable and quantifiable business tool. Here is an example I will give you: Let's say you are Pampers Corporation; you have newborn mothers and expectant mothers all over the world buying your diapers and using your products for their kids. At the next P.R. and marketing meeting when the discussion arises, "How do we better reach our mothers?", and "What will form a stronger bond with our company over Huggies?" You mention podcasting, and here is an idea for free. "Well, how about we utilize this new medium of podcasting to target our mothers with informative audio and video podcasts. We can put out 10-15 general 1-3 minute podcasts, which will detail an array of topics from "what to do about diaper rash" to "choosing the right size diaper for your baby"." This will give mothers the ability to go to the website to hear and see this information, or better yet, they can subscribe to the Pampers feed and receive on demand updates to their personal MP player. This is how a business can integrate podcasting on a national level, and be highly effective with their usage of the technology. On a smaller scale, podcasting can be used to target highly specific niche demographics, using nanocasting models. Here is an example: Let's say you are a local accounting firm with a customer base of anywhere from 1,000 clients to 50,000 clients. You have been sending out monthly newsletters and quarterly advisory notices, however you are looking for a more effective medium to get this information across to your clients. You can develop an audio podcast, which can be used in streaming emails as well as downloaded to personal devices that will cover these important topics. You could develop a standard 5 minute nanocast, which speaks on the specific topics of information you are looking to make public, and do it through an appealing listening experience. Another example could be local restaurants, looking to offer promotions to customers to help drive traffic in their business. Nanocasting allows you to target specific demographic regions; states, cities and even zip codes. A restaurant could use a local podcast directory to reach markets that are centralized to his location and will convert into new customer traffic. You can already imagine the local pizza shops' weekly podcast featuring their half off secret item of the week; you have to know the secret word to get half off the item. Business podcasting is an incredibly valuable advertising, marketing, and public relations tool for any business, when practically applied. The idea behind podcasting, regardless of what size business you may be, is; define your market clearly, and be creative with the information you are relaying. These concepts, mixed with a professional podcast production, will lead your business to on-demand success with your target audience.