What are the Benefits of Podcasting?

                                                                                         

Why should you be using podcasts in your business? Well there are a number of reasons; I'm going to give you six.

1. Relationship marketing

The most important reason for doing podcasting is because it's about relationship marketing. Business is still about creating strong, long-term relationships with your prospects, your customers and your clients. And podcasting is a very effective way of doing that.

Like an e-mail newsletter, because you're publishing it regularly, it's a great way to keep in touch while delivering value to the people in your network, the people who are important to you. You deliver value and you get to promote yourself as well. My rule is always 80/20: That is, at least 80% value in every message that you send out and at most 20% self promotion.

2. Prospecting

That leads to the second point, which is about prospecting.

If somebody visits your Web site and they are not in a position to buy yet, you would like to stay in relationship with them. You can do that with an e-mail newsletter, and you can also do that with a podcast. Invite them to subscribe to your podcast and then you get to stay in touch with them. You keep delivering value to them so that when they're ready to buy, yours is the first name that come to mind.

One podcaster who does this very well is communication skills coach LeeAundra Temescu, who publishes "The Contrary Public Speaker" (from thecontrarypublicspeaker.com).

Her podcast is about 10 or 15 minutes each issue. In it, she gives some tips on public speaking and presentation skills. She talks about presenters, media personalities who made some sort of public communication in the last week or so, and she adds her commentary, and she answers reader's questions. Subscribe to that podcast just to see two things: First, the content itself is good; second, notice the way she promotes and positions herself without blatant advertising.

3. Personal connection

The third reason is that it is audio or video as opposed to written text, which creates a more personal connection.

I've subscribed to many newsletters; and it's one thing to read the written word from the author, and quite another thing to get a more personal connection by hearing their voice or watching them on video.

And that personal connection really does make a difference. You engage more with your audience and with your subscribers.

An example of a Web site that does this very well is www.ted.com. It's an annual conference of some of the world's leading thinkers. Delegates pay a lot of money to attend the conference, but they make all the programs available on their Web site for free download. Most are available on audio; and all are available in video as well. You really connect with the people who are there in ways that you wouldn't if you were just reading a transcript of their presentations.

4. Leading edge technology

The fourth reason for publishing a podcast is because it is new technology.

If you're seen as an expert, it's important to be using the latest technology. So if you're a speaker, a trainer, a consultant, a coach, or an author, this is another way of delivering your message. And because it is leading edge, it helps position you in the marketplace as well.

One of my clients, Paul Bridle, has a podcast on his Web site and every time he publishes a newsletter, he also publishes it in podcast form. If you visit www.paulbridle.com, when you sign up to his newsletter you can also sign up to his podcast. Now Paul is a professional speaker and consultant on leadership, so he is demonstrating his own leadership by being at the forefront of technology.

5. Portable devices

The next reason is the iPod.

I mentioned earlier that you don't require an iPod to be able to do podcasting or to be able to listen to podcasts. However, the people who do have iPods are able to take their material that they download off their computer and listen to it elsewhere. Podcasting allows you to deliver your message to people not just in their normal work environment, but at the gym, when they're driving, when they're riding a bike, and in other non-work environments.

6. An uncluttered space

The final benefit of podcasting is that although it's very popular, it's still relatively new. So there's an uncluttered space.

When I first started using the web (in 1996), there were very few e-mail newsletters. You could go to any Web site that asked for any e-mail address and anybody would give their e-mail address to that Web site. Now, of course, it's the other way around. You have to really work hard to get subscribers to your e-mail newsletter because there is so much spam.

But podcasting is at the stage that e-mail newsletters were 10 years ago. You could go to Web sites with podcasts and people will subscribe to podcasts. There are thousands of podcasts on the Internet, so there are certainly far more then any one person would ever subscribe to. However, it's nowhere near as competitive as other things are like e-mail newsletters. So it's still a fairly uncluttered space. You can get a clear competitive advantage by being in that space because you'll still be one of the few.

About the author:
Gihan Perera is the author of "The Seven Fatal Mistakes That Most Web Site Owners Make - And How To Avoid Them" and "Spin: Turn One Idea Into Hundreds of Information Products". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get your complimentary copies now.

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