It seems to me that many small to medium sized companies like the idea of having their own podcast and have heard that they are good for business, and as a result, we receive plenty of enquiries about recording and podcast production. However, a lot of work and time is involved in producing a regular podcast and can turn out to be quite daunting for the new podcaster. It is therefore no surprise that a good number of enquiries do not actually turn into podcasts.

I feel that there are some very valid reasons for this.

Cost

The cost of professionally produced podcasts can be prohibitive for small to medium sized companies who are new to the world of podcasting. In our experience, a podcast is only really effective as a series, with the recording and production costing anywhere from 150 GBP to 500 GBP for each podcast, depending on the complexity and involvement of professional voice-overs and audio editing services. With an average cost of around 300 GBP for podcast production and a series of at least six shows, the financial investment is significant; however, if you get the content of the podcast series right, you should get a healthy return on your investment. More about this later.

Typical costs can include: -

Using professional voice-overs
Location recording
Mixing, editing and production
Inclusion of sound effects and music

If done properly, the benefits of your podcast series will far outweigh the costs for many years. Once on the web, it can be accessed and enjoyed by millions of people around the world. The trick is to pitch the podcast content correctly to your target market. If you are business minded and approach your podcast from this point of view, it may make sense to try and cover your investment by selling Podverts (podcast adverts) to potential sponsors. This works quite simply by placing one or a number of podverts within the content of your podcast show. The benefits of this are clear as the sponsor will have their product(s) advertised to all of your listeners. Furthermore, your listeners will be in a particular market group and it makes sense for complementary industry sectors to get on board with your podcast series from the beginning. Initially, this will probably be more difficult as you do not have a proven track record, but once you have a successful series under your belt you should have listener figures that you can impress sponsors with.

Your sponsors can pay a one-off fee for their podvert or you could offer a discount for purchasing multiple podvert slots. In a 10 to 15 minute podcast, I do not think it unreasonable to have 3-4 short adverts / sponsor messages dividing up subject segments. Provided your audio producers are discreet about the placement and number of podverts, your listeners will just accept these as part of the package; we are all used to seeing and hearing adverts.

Once your podcast is established, you can take this concept a stage further by offering an advertisement feature to your sponsor, for example, an interview about their product and/or services. As long as the feature is relevant and offers value to your target market, this too will be accepted as part of the package. This already happens on radio shows and TV. Most of the time we don't even realise we are being advertised to.

Podcast content

This is probably the biggest reason that a podcast never evolves into a series and is probably the hardest part for most businesses to actually get their heads around. Writing the script for a podcast can be time consuming and quite difficult to start with; however, once you have got a feel for it, like everything else in life, it becomes easier. If you really struggle with this, there is no reason why you cannot employ the services of a scriptwriter and give yourself the position of creative director. Personally, I believe that it is more important to find a subject matter that is interesting and valuable to your target market than creating a perfect script. Brainstorming with colleagues and even clients about potential topics, subjects, features, interviews, and entertainment items will soon give you a rough outline of content that can be the raw material for your scripts.

Once you have the outline for your first podcast and possibly your second, the shape of the series will become clearer and from this, you should be able to create a show template. It is a good idea to test these initial ideas with a few people before going to the expense of having a professional podcast recorded and produced. Once you are happy with the overall ideas of your podcast show, you will need to either script it for a professional Voice-over to narrate (usually more favourable) or host the podcast yourself.

The choice of using a professional voice-over or doing the narration yourself is one that you need to take. There are good and bad points to both of these. If you are unaccustomed to talking into a microphone, the results could be pretty horrific for the listener and as a result many people may switch off and never listen again. On the other hand, if you are good at talking into a microphone and can project the right amount of personality, you may just become a hit with your audience. The clear benefit of using a professional voice-over is that your podcast will sound polished and more like a radio show. Either way, you need to decide which would be more appealing to your listeners / target market.

If you decide that becoming the host is a little bit of a stretch for you, there are companies that can organise the services of a professional voiceover for you.

There are various ways that a good producer can incorporate elements of location recording with a studio-produced voice-over to provide a varied and authentic contrast in the podcast production. For instance, it is easy for a voice-over to introduce a 5-minute interview or a 5-minute chat you had in the office with a colleague or business contact. The contrast between the two will create a variation for the listener. For example, I have known podcast interviews to be carried out on trains, planes, bars, nightclubs and even limos.

Don't be afraid to be creative. Being different can help you stand out from the your competitors and could be the factor that gets you recognition by your target market and industry.

Getting it out there!

Podcast marketing is a big subject, and as a company, the best way to get your podcast to the right listeners is to tell them directly. Use your client list / mailing list, after all, these are people that have an interest in your product and services because they have either used your services or joined your mailing list. If you have a newsletter that you send to clients on your mailing list, you could maybe create an audio version of it or just promote your new podcast series on your newsletter.

Okay, so you have a mailing list of 20,000 people that you have sent your latest newsletter to; you tell everybody that you have a great new podcast and everyone listens to it... not quite. Even though most people have heard of the term podcast and think they know what it is, there are still lots of people that do not know what podcasting is, where to find podcasts or how to listen to them.

When advertising your podcast, direct your mailing list subscribers to a page on your website or blog that clearly explains and educates them about your podcast, the listening options available and how to subscribe to future podcast shows.

In reality, a lot of people do not realise that a podcast can be easily listened to from their computer, iPod or mp3 player, or burned to CD for listening at home or in the car. Many people do not realise that their downtime, especially during commutes, can be used as valuable podcast listening time. You could be the one to educate and entertain them via your podcast; they will be ever grateful to you for this.

Depending on your budget and product, a great business promotion would be to offer your top clients a complementary gift, an mp3 player for example, pre-loaded with your podcasts and even company branded. There are companies that produce branded merchandise i.e. pens, mugs, coasters etc. who could possibly do the same with your promotional gift.

Once you have your podcast subscribers, you need to keep them listening. Asking for listener opinion and feedback will help refine your podcast series in order to keep them engaged and eagerly awaiting the next show and possibly, your new series. You could do this quite simply on your website by asking for feedback or having a comments box on your blog. It is a good idea to offer an incentive for providing feedback, such as a prize draw to win a new iPod, gift vouchers etc.

I highly recommend that you have your podcast transcribed and available as text on your website or blog. The reason for this is that the search engines cannot analyse the content of your audio, they can only analyse and index content that is textual. Your transcript will contain all of your relevant keywords and key phrases that will attract the search engines and attract new listeners and potential new clients. This is an ideal place to have your comment box.

Monitoring

Once your first podcast series is out there, you need to monitor its effectiveness. Time and money has been invested into the recording and production of your podcast so you need to see a worthwhile return on your investment. This can be measured in various ways, however, the key objectives of your podcast should be to:-

Cement existing relationships between you and your clients and provide them with added value.
Attract new clients via your podcast on the web and via referrals from existing listeners.
Increase awareness about your products and services and to spread your message.
Keep your company ahead of your competitors.

If you can achieve all of this whilst getting sponsors to cover the cost of your podcast production, your venture into the world of podcasting should be highly successful and very profitable.

About the Author: Lee Pritchard is the founder of Media Music Now, a high quality Royalty Free Music library that offers a variety of music, voice-over and audio editing services including Podcast Production using professional voice-overs. Lee also has a keen interest in music licensing and is excited about the future of independent music on the internet.

Podcast Production: http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/podcast_production/
Blog: http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/blog/

Podcasting content comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Businesses are finding many different and creative ways of incorporating podcasts into their business strategies and marketing plans.

Here are just some of the various types of content that businesses are turning into podcasts...

1. Audio Books

Books that are "read" aloud are no longer embraced only by the visually impaired. For example, commuters who want to make the most of their travel time have long embraced books-on-tape. The podcast medium is far more compact and portable, so audio books and similar content are now being made available as podcasts.

2. Audio Tours

Interested in a guided tour of a historic site, or a detailed explanation of a museum display? Audio tour podcasts with detailed explanations are becoming quite common.

3. Sermons

The word of God, Allah, or a bible study discussion are now all popular content for podcast material. It does not really matter the what the religious material might be -- what is important is that by turning those conversations and dialogs into podcasts, their reach is being extended and new audiences are being touched .

4. Indie Artists Demos

Independent musical artists, looking to build a community and develop a fan base, are no longer restricted by their geographical region. With podcasts, Indie artists can expand their audience and increase their reach. Indie's can use iTunes to get reactions to new material or songs.

What better way to learn a language than to hear it? Podcasts are a perfect medium for foreign language instruction. Listeners can hear accents and phrasing, and listen to a specific lecture until they have fully mastered the content. 6. Recipes Interested in gourmet cooking, but do not have the time to watch cooking show hosts such as Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart? Download the podcasts to learn new recipes, at a time and place of your choosing and convenience.

7. Showing Homes For Realtors

What better way to market property or homes for sale than with a video podcast? Home tours help sell available listings, and with economic conditions currently unfavorable to sellers, they need all the help they can get. Video podcasts or slideshows of the homes help entice interested buyers to learn more about properties. Using podcasting as a communication medium will help expand the homes appeal.

8. Sporting Event Commentaries

Sportscasters are always ready and willing to offer opinions and commentary on sporting events. Pre-event festivities and post-event analysis are often enjoyed by fans, and if the commentaries are made available at any time as podcasts, the listeners have much more flexibility.

9. Medical Instruction

As just one example, medical schools have recorded a variety of heart murmurs as podcasts. Medical students studying cardiology can listen to the various heart defects until they understand the different sounds and the impact those anomalies have on the circulatory system. Recognizing the sound patterns of a heart murmur can greatly aid medical students when they run across similar anomalies in a real patient.

10. Class Lectures

Universities have embraced podcasting, providing supplemental class material as podcasts. Students often listen to the material while commuting from one class to another, exercising, or relaxing between classes.

11. Corporate - Internal Sales Force Updates

Podcasting is a perfect way for a business to communicate with remote sales staff, regarding things such as addressing corporate policy changes, new product descriptions, and marketing points. Educating a wide-spread sales force about a new product or service has always been a challenge. Corporations have tackled this problem by providing audio and video podcasts that detail a product's use. Sales team members are often able to learn about new products without needing to travel to the corporate headquarters for formal instruction or sales seminars.

12. Political Debates

Are political debates a hobby, or do you just like to stay informed on the issues and candidates? Many political debates are now available via podcasts.

Potential podcasting content covers the gamut. With more than millions of podcasts now available, there are few topics that are not covered by this popular communication channel.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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