Marketers are always on the look-out for game-changing branding channels.
In today’s world, when it comes to attracting, educating, selling, and retaining customers at very reasonable costs, Podcasting is proving to be the newest, best channel for creating, expanding a brand.
Not Easy But Rewarding
Earlier in this decade, businesses learned the importance of branding. Today they are learning Podcasting isn’t easy, but it is not out of the reach of any business.
Creating a Podcast and expanding your brand are not easy tasks but one can help the other and it is a smart business leader who takes on the challenge. Both require never ceasing attention and creativity but together mean significant added profits.
Media Diversity
Despite this crucial need, marketers are constantly faced with the choice between cost and reach. Given its relatively cheap costs, Podcast are becoming a growing marketing tool. Podcasting as a branding tool also adds a critical element: media diversity.
Available in a plethora of media, a podcast can be heard on an iPhone, through a car speaker, home or business desk computer, and now via home television through Amazon Fire and other similar devices. In short, reaching audiences in a variety of media, settings and locations.
This place based advantage allows smart marketers to turn this media diversity into greater listens with more effective message delivery at different locations thus leading to higher profits. Here’s how.
Multiple Channels Amplifies Branding Message
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
If you produce a Podcast with a guest describing how your product helps babies sleep better, two things are accomplished:
- You have a third party endorsement of your product.
- By pushing it through several channels, multiple audiences will hear your message.
Drawing Audiences, Motivating Buying
Podcast content offers you amazing ways of drawing audiences and motivating buying. They include:
- Talk about specific uses with guests asking their real world experiences.
- Offer a reward for audience responses on how they used the product.
- Promote special sales found only through the Podcast.
- Ask audience members to be guests on future shows discussing their experiences.
- Promote audience guests user experience on future shows.
- Programs are heard in cars going to stores and while doing other chores.
Increasing Audiences
Every month, Podcast listener-ship increases along with credibility. At the same time, surveys indicate information attention spans are decreasing. Podcasts are bucking this trend because their formats allow the development of more complete information chains. People do want to hear how your product works better and why! Audiences are willing to wait for guests to present their experiences both positive and negative.
Podcasts Do’s and Don’ts
Veteran podcasters often argue over this lists but generally agree on the following:
- Have a warm welcoming voice as the host.
- Where possible have the company leader be a part of the program.
- Identify guests frequently along with a contact URL.
- Allow the guest to talk, the more they talk the better the program.
- Promote the programs and have an easily downloaded embedded program on your website.
- Create a picture gallery and upload to Utube and ROKU.
- Ask guests to promote your show on their websites.
- Vary guests both male and female, young and old.
- Insert three spots telling audiences where they can buy them.
- Keep to a regular schedule, once a week; month, quarterly.
Above all, join the podcast revolution, it will pay multiple dividends in new orders and higher profits.
What is the one factor keeping you from starting a Podcast?
About the Author
Donald P. Mazzella is COO, Editorial Director of Information Strategies, Inc. (ISI), a company that helps small business managers improve profits. He anchors two radio podcasts, Small Business Digest, About the World. With three degrees from New York University, he has taught at major universities around the country.
A life-long journalist with major media organizations, he won a National Press Club award for best consumer story as leader of Income Opportunities magazine which was owned by Essence Communications.
