An effective podcast can provide your company or brand with a refreshing medium for reaching and engaging your consumers. While they have only been popularized within the past five years or so, podcasting has quickly presented itself as an effective online marketing tool. This article will provide an overview of podcasting and will delve into a few fundamental principles that can help to ensure a successful podcast.

Podcasts are media files that can be downloaded or streamed periodically over a course of time. They can take the form of both audio and video files. The podcasts can be downloaded from the website of the podcaster, through third party hosts or from central locations such as iTunes. They can be streamed and listened to straight from the internet or saved onto a mobile device to be listened to at another time. Podcasts can last anywhere from a few minutes to upwards of an hour, and the majority are free to download - though some can charge a small fee. Most podcasts operate on a subscription basis, where, once subscribed, you are automatically updated with the latest episodes from your favorite podcasters.

Initially, news broadcasters and journalists utilized podcasts as a method of taking a more in-depth look at certain stories or general news areas. Entertainers also benefited from this medium by publishing snippets of their content for public consumption. However, today's internet is awash with companies and brands publishing their own podcast material. The key for any company interested in producing a podcast is to make their content interesting and relevant. The podcast is not an advertisement for your company's products or services, and the idea of using the podcast to blow your proverbial trumpet should be the furthest thought from your mind. Instead, position yourself as an expert in your field and generate content that a consumer would want to consume.

For audio podcasts, provide a news overview of your industry, and perhaps give an irreverent slant on the latest events. Invite high profile guests to talk about their experiences and their forecasts for the future. With video, utilize a similar format except visit new places, and attempt to visually stimulate interest. It is also very important with video to be succinct and keep the length at a digestible amount. Within your podcast, create regular segments that will prompt familiarity with your consumers; for example the 'one-minute round up', or 'the week's top ten. '

Consumers will eventually become subscribers and spend time with your brand, to which they now can assign a voice or a face. If you are successful, consumers will recommend and share your podcast, such that your audience is seeking you out and not vice versa.

Podcasts usually have a sole sponsor whose brief advertisements bookend the show. This in itself provides an opportunity to advertise either your own company if you wish, or to showcase another organization's message for a fee. However, the idea of revenue generating should not be the focal point of the podcast.

Domenic Carlson writes on behalf of inSegment, Boston's leader in Search Engine Marketing, Digital Marketing, and the home of Boston SEO.