Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Starting a Podcast? Start Here
I recently wrote about an unexpected early success with a podcast that I'm producing. The subject matter is extremely niche - which is ideally what you want in a podcast. Think of it as "narrowcasting." The more specific and unique your content, the more likely it is to connect with your listeners.
Even so, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of downloads and subscriptions my podcast received. I have heard traditional media types trying to gauge the value of a podcast by asking about the number of listeners. While this can be impressive (or disappointing, depending on your expectations), I don't believe it fully captures the value of a podcast. If a traditional broadcast engages with only 10% of its audience - or if it only has a fraction of their attention - doesn't it sound more appealing to have nearly 100% engagement?
Today, I'd like to share some of the steps behind my podcasting success. These are not comprehensive; there may be many other ways to achieve solid results. But these are what worked for me.
I had been thinking about creating this podcast for 8 months and I could have launched it at any time, but I wanted to make sure I did everything correctly and did it well. Here then are some of the key factors to which I attribute success:
Patience & Preparation
It's tempting to just jump in and start a show because you've got the passion, you've got the knowledge and the technology is so easy to acquire. But don't let this throw you off, because if you haven't got a plan in place, you'll be susceptible to podfading. I know a company that wanted to do a podcast, but in their haste to "just get something up," they made the common mistake of posting a single episode and letting it linger on its own for six months. Big mistake. You'll never build an audience that way.
You should spend a lot of time thinking about what you want to talk about and figure out the logistics behind the process. Things to think about include:- A name for your show and where it's going to live on the Web.
- A registered domain name (see "branding" below) is a wise choice. An easy to use site is GoDaddy.com
- A blog - yes, you'll need a blog for a podcast, as you want a place to write show notes, post mp3 links, contact information and to encourage people to subscribe. WordPress, TypePad, Vox, Blogger - there are plenty of platforms.
- You'll be hosting the mp3 files somewhere, so you should do some homework to see what services are available out there. Personally, I like LibSyn.
- Get yourself registered with iTunes and follow their instructions for podcasting.
- Not everyone uses iTunes, so be sure to register a feed with Feedburner.
- You can start by reading How to Do Everything with Podcasting
by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson.
Editorial Plan
There are many components to an effective plan, the first of which is an editorial calendar - what you're going to talk about and how often you'll produce a show. You probably have a lot to say about your subject, but it works best to put the major topics down on paper, so you can determine the order of the episodes. If you're going to produce an ongoing podcast, I think it's wise to have a six-month editorial plan in place.
If you're not ready to make a long-term plan, you might think about a short podcast series that is limited to say, 10 episodes. That way you're giving your audience something of value but not locking yourself into an eternal commitment.
Part of the editorial planning process is determining frequency - how often will you be able to record and produce your podcast? You should take into account how long each show will be, the editing time required, and how often you'd like your listeners to expect new content. There are some podcasts, such as For Immediate Release, that are produced twice a week; Trafcom News comes out every other week. Both are excellent shows that are worth your time, even though they're produced on vastly different schedules. Either way, you should set expectations for your audience as to when they can expect to hear your new episodes. Not everyone subscribes, so you want to make it clear how often they should be checking your site.
The point is: put a plan together that makes sense for you, tell your audience about it, and stick to it.
Format
There are plenty of excellent podcasts with a single host; there are also some very successful ones with co-hosts. As you think about how your podcast will work, you should take a personal inventory and determine if you can handle a podcast alone. If not, you might consider co-hosting it with a colleague who can provide additional perspective.
Then decide how each episode will work. Perhaps a straight narrative style will work for you. Or maybe you'd like to mix it up with interviews. Or an interview-only format. Again, it depends on the type of content you'd like to cover and the value you'd like to give to you listeners.
Whatever format you choose, it should support the content that you'd like to share and that is interesting to your listeners.
Branding
Whether you're producing a podcast for business or personal reasons, it should have a brand - that is, a distinct look and feel that connects on an emotional level with your audience. When people hear your show or when they visit the web site, they should be able to identify it immediately. This means you should have some non-generic graphics that reflect your show and music (if you plan to use any) that is consistent with your brand.
Podcasts by their very definition are episodic, which allows you to make a consistent brand over time. While you may work out the kinks in your first few episodes, over time you'll find a comfortable style and format that work for you. This includes certain "regular features" that you may want to assign to your show. One example is New Comm Road, hosted by Bryan Person. In it he has a very useful segment called "Tools of the Trade," in which he highlights some of the websites, applications and technology that his listeners should be aware of.
Fresh or Canned?
I recommend that you start by having a few episodes "in the can," or recorded by the time you launch your podcast. For certain topics, you can record some episodes that are timeless and can be aired at any time. Depending on your topic, you may want to have a show that addresses current events or trends, in which case you should be able to record and produce a show in fairly short order.
Examples of some time-sensitive shows include industry events, product releases and major announcements. Record an interview ahead of time and discuss the timing of the release with the subject; depending on the goal (building awareness, driving event registrations, promoting product sales, feedback, etc.), you can determine when it's best to air the episode. In particular, if you're airing an episode prior to an event, I find that it's helpful to have a follow-up episode in which you air comments and interviews about the event after it has occurred. For those listeners who couldn't attend, they feel they've been given an inside scoop and may have reason to attend the next one.
People...People Who Need People
If you currently have a community of contacts across the Web, by all means, leverage your relationship with them as you launch your podcast. It doesn't matter if they don't fit the demographic of your target audience. The point is, you've developed some kind of meaningful dialog with them over some common interest, so use that connection to help promote your show.
You may have friends on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, del.icio.us - the list goes on and on. Essentially, any social networking site that you use already has a built-in community. Use the power of the community to help grow your show. And when your show is up and running, ask your listeners to tell their friends about it by being specific: ask them to tell just three people about your show. Over time, your numbers will grow.
Are Ess What?
Let's face it: even though you and I may be familiar with the ins and outs of new media technology, your audience may not be. They may only have passing familiarity with a blog, let alone RSS feeds, podcasts, iTunes, etc. It's essential that you not only cater to the lowest common denominator, but that you create options that everyone can feel comfortable with.
For example, when I started my other blog, I made sure I had a FeedBlitz email subscription option, because I knew many of my readers were new to RSS. And I was right: the ratio of email subscribers to RSS subscribers has been somewhere between 2:1 and 3:1. And then, for good measure, I threw in a Twitter feed as well.
Your show should be available on an RSS feed, on iTunes, through email (Feedburner or FeedBlitz can handle this), and directly on your site. Listeners should know they can listen to your show on their mp3 player, their computer, their phone or burn a CD. The point is, give them every possible option to listen to and subscribe to your show, because you don't know how they prefer to consume audio.
I did all of the above, plus I integrated a Flash-based player from SplashCast for each episode and for all of the shows to date. You can customize the image so it contains your brand and you can determine how you want the shows to be presented. It's easy to create and super-easy for your listeners to play. You can see it in action on my podcast web site. In addition WidgetBox has a number of audio players you can use as well.
Letters, We Get Letters
One of the best features of any new media production is that you can get direct feedback and comments from your listeners. And you should be encouraging them to participate, because you are in a unique position to give them exactly what they want from your show.
Again, you need to give them a variety of choices. Certainly, since your show lives on a blog, the comments feature should be enabled. Give them an email address where they can reach you, either by using one that comes with your domain name or setting one up through a free email service like Gmail. Establish a call-in number so they can make a phone call and talk to you directly and (this is the good part) you can play it on your show. There's nothing like hearing what another listener has to say. You can find and set up numbers through Skype or k7.
Duly Noted
Finally, you should write up notes for every show that you produce. While this may seem like drudgery, I cannot underscore enough the importance of this. First of all, it gives your listeners an idea of what to expect and how long the show will run. And secondly, the show notes are indexed on the search engines, giving you much more power to attract future listeners. You'll be easier to find. They don't have to be long, but plan to spend a decent amount of time on them so they are descriptive, useful and contain the key search terms that are appropriate for your show.
One Last Thing
There are lots of widgets and add-ons out there to spice up your site. Check them out and use one that works for you. In my case, I was getting a lot of compliments on my theme music, so I used MyxerTones to create a mobile phone ringtone of the intro. It's gotten a lot of attention.
So, that's it! I know this was a long post, and if you've made it the entire way through, I thank you. If I missed anything or if any of the above is unclear, please let me know. I hope you found this useful.
Post script: Donna Papacosta has a very handy check-list that is a must-read for any podcaster.
Labels: Podcasting, rules, strategy
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Content So Focused People Will Line Up for It
Let me tell you a little story about podcasting, if I may.
I've been a big follower of podcasts for a couple of years now. I've got my favorites, which span a number of genres, but I've been consistently impressed with the quality of the productions (for the most part) and the great content. When my daily commute was an hour each way, I consumed podcasts regularly and they ruined me for traditional radio.
As I recounted in one of my all-time favorite posts, There Are Riches in Niches, I was mulling over two podcasting ideas with Bryan Person, host of New Comm Road. He gave me some valuable advice, which was to be unique, serve a small audience, and do it well.
So, with that in mind, I took the plunge and started producing a podcast last month.
To be frank, I had very low expectations for it. It is a podcast strictly focused on a sub-segment of the literary world - specifically, of Sherlock Holmes devotees. It's definitely an educated group, but not technologically advanced, so I figured that if I got 35 listeners, I'd be lucky. After all, this is uber-niche.
Imagine my surprise when I checked my stats and saw that my audience is nearly 5 times what I expected!
So What's the Secret?
There are a number of factors that went into getting such a large audience, and as I'm only on my third show, I'm sure I'll be learning a great deal more as the show continues to grow. In a post tomorrow, I'll share with you some of the specific actions and steps that I took to achieve what I have.
In the meantime, I was pleased to find a nice blurb on the SplashCast blog today, courtesy of Marshall Kirkpatrick:
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere is a really neat example of niche audio content with supporting blog posts. Scott Monty and Burt Wolder have also done a great job of leveraging a whole bunch of different services to create the beginnings of their online community. You can even get the show’s intro audio as a ringtone! I am impressed.
Thank, you Marshall. We're pretty impressed ourselves.Labels: Marketing, New Media, Podcasting
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
My New Social Media Job
We interrupt this marketing blog to bring you a purely personal post. Well, that's not entirely true. It's a personal post with a marketing twist.
If you stop by my desk, you'll find an assortment of fountain pens, usually kept on a pen holder or in a mahogany and glass display case that my colleagues have deemed the "pen humidor." I prefer to use fountain pens because they're distinctive, elegant and they require me to really focus on what I'm writing.
For about 2 1/2 years I've been at an award-winning traditional agency - in some ways a fountain pen of the marketing world. Staffed with incredibly intelligent and talented people with distinctive personalities, the agency has given me an opportunity to help clients address complex problems for sophisticated audiences.
But as you know, I've been writing about marketing in the social media space for the last year or so and have craved social media marketing projects at every turn. As my agency is small and focused on B2B clients, the opportunities have been limited. So I've managed to educate myself on the subject and to interact with some intelligent, creative and well-connected new media people, both online and in person.
My initial interest in the space was instigated from a keynote presentation at the 2006 Boston Ad Club symposium where I heard Joseph Jaffe speak. From then on, I had the bug, leading to an inexorable flow of RSS feeds and podcasts as well as the formation of my blog (I have still kept my other blog as a social media laboratory of sorts).
So when Jaffe & Co. launched crayon last October, I watched the whole thing unfold. The initial announcements, the various podcast plugs, the launch in Second Life - I was excited that new marketing was being given a boost. I even closed that October 20, 2006 blog post with "Talk about a dream job!"
Fast forward to this March, when I heard Joseph speak at the Ad Club Symposium again, this time with C.C. Chapman in tow. I was much more prepared - so much so that C.C. and I were exchanging Twitter messages across the floor of the event. Joseph, C.C. and I connected briefly at the event, followed up with a wave of emails, tweets and phone calls, and finally came to a mutual decision:
On June 4th, I officially join the crayon team.
Dream job, indeed. I'll be working with crayon clients to help them understand new media opportunities and, with the help of the crayon creative & strategic team, to help build new marketing campaigns and social media outreach programs for some major brands.
As you can imagine, I'm incredibly excited about the opportunity - not only do I get to do what I love on a daily basis, but I get to do so with some people I really admire and respect. So now, rather than being filled with lustrous fountain pens, my pen humidor is going to look something like this:
There will be a follow up post on "how social media helped me land my new job," in which I'll detail the steps that I took - some of which led to very interesting conversations, others which didn't pan out - all of which were directly linked to being part of the larger new marketing social network. It may even be something of a case study for putting social media to work as a tool in your career development.
Over the next two weeks, I'll be spending time with my family (in particular prepping for Drew's 1st birthday), accomplishing some tasks around the house, getting my home office organized and continuing to delve into this amazingly fertile and fluid world of new media.
Happy coloring!
Labels: blogs, crayon, innovation, New Media, news, Podcasting, Second Life, social media, Twitter
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
There Are Riches in Niches
The launch of Stripe Generator - admittedly a one-off with limited appeal - caused Seth Godin to raise a point:
Not a lot of room to make stuff that everyone thinks is great. I think you're a lot better off delighting and amazing the niches.
There's a lot of truth there. When I was recently mulling over two podcasting ideas, I shared my ideas with a new media colleague. Here's roughly how the conversation went:
Me: So I've got a couple of podcast ideas in development. One is for a social media podcast; the other is a literary podcast.
Him: Doing one podcast is a huge commitment; two would be even greater. Let me ask you this: is anyone else doing a literary podcast in the space?
Me: No.
Him: Then make that your focus. There are tons of podcasts about podcasting, blogging and new marketing. But is anyone else doing a podcast about this literary character?
Me: No.
Him: Then you should own it. Be the first. Be the best. You can stand out.
He's absolutely right. If you want to brand yourself, if you want to be remarkable, you need to give people a solution that they need, no matter what the size of the audience. If you're doing what's already been done and you have no unique angle, you aren't going to have many evangelists who will be loyal to you. Plus - if you actually enjoy what you're doing and you're really good at it, you'll be rewarded.
Go out there and build the next Stripe Generator.
Labels: brand, Marketing, New Media, Podcasting
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Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Try It, You'll Like It
What would David Ogilvy do? That's the question I've been asking myself, and I think I've got the answer.
First, a little background. One of the social media colleagues I've had a chance to meet over the last couple of weeks was Greg Verdino. His recent blog post mentions his attendance at Virtual Worlds 2007 conference, in which he noted how few marketers and agency executives were present. So profound was it that David Armano made it his Thought of the Day.
Far from surprising Greg (or me), it reinforced what we both discussed when we met: the majority of marketers are trying to figure out ways t harness the field of new marketing strategies (blogging / podcasting / Second Life / social network) without the benefit of actually using the technologies. When did this - giving advice on something you don't understand - become the hallmark of a successful marketer?
Think about it for a minute: would an agency exec work on a television commercial without ever having seen one? Would any good creative director design a print ad without looking through a magazine to see what the surrounding material is like? Not on your life. Yet they throw the social media terms around as if they just represent another channel.
If you've ever read the seminal book Ogilvy on Advertising
, you'll know that David Ogilvy made two very important points in the book - points that defined his career:
- Research is crucial. Understand the client, understand their customer and what motivates them. This was so important that he named himself Research Director at his agency.
- Live the brand. It didn't matter if the client was Rolls Royce, Schweppes or Sears, Ogilvy always bought his clients' products and experienced them just as any customer would, which made him much more effective when he wrote about them.
So, if David Ogilvy were to counsel a client on the social media space today, would he have a blog? A MySpace profile? Would he listen to podcasts? You bet your life he would.
While social media is considered as just another facet to an integrated marketing program (and rightfully so), it's a more complex than most agency execs and marketers think. This is a conversation medium, one that requires understanding and finessing. You wouldn't show up at a sophisticated cocktail party dressed poorly and proceed to interrupt a conversation, grab a handful of hors d'oeuvres and smash your face down in the punch bowl, would you?
Well that's the equivalent of a marketer inexperienced in the field of new marketing / social media showing up to Second Life, starting a blog, etc. without having taken the time to participate in and understand the space.
Labels: Advertising, blogs, David Armano, Marketing, New Media, Podcasting, Second Life, social media
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Thursday, March 22, 2007
Internal & External Blogs - Knowing the Difference
I recently received an email following up on a webinar that I couldn't attend. It was sponsored by KnowNow and Sphere, and they provided what I think is a decent round-up of different uses of blogs by companies, both internally and externally.
I've listed KnowNow's suggestions in blue below, with my comments are indented in black.
Internally-Focused: - Executive Blogs (Internal) - Allow company executives to share information with employees and encourage upward communication and feedback.
- This could easily be the centerpiece of an internal communications program. Think of the potential when you add podcasting to the mix, so the CEO can speak directly to a large number of employees in a format longer than a voicemail.
- Project or Implementation Specific Blogs - Provide a means for team members to collaborate on project-related issues, track status, etc.
- Competitive Intelligence Blogs - capture and collaborate on market and competitive intelligence.
- Knowledge Management/Portal Replacement Blogs - These blogs can be used as a means for more easily sharing information with a large group of people. The advantage here is that business users don’t need to go through IT just to post something on their portal (and people can more easily comment or provide feedback)
- An internal wiki would allow you to do the same thing. A resource such as pbWiki makes this a hassle-free and much more robust solution.
- Sales Blogs - Allows sales reps an easy way to share best practices and information.
- Product Development Blogs - Allow developers and other stakeholders to provide feedback and suggest new ideas.
- Community of Practice Blogs - These focus on facilitating discussion amongst individuals on a specific technical or functional topic area.
Externally-Focused:
- Executive Blogs (External) - Company executives can share information with customers, partners, etc and solicit feedback.
- Product/Brand Blogs - Allow product management or marketing dept to facilitate customer “conversation” about products, brand, etc.
- The company that really wants to stand out will take customers' comments and feedback, share it it with the product development team, and then tell the customers about improvements/changes made to the product because of their input.
- Media Relations/PR Blogs - Keep a dialog with members of the media about company happenings.
- Great, but keep it fresh. The last thing journalists need is repeats of press releases. If you'd like to try something interesting, post a short audio clip with unique content as part of a blog posting that supports a press release. When you see media mentions of the content that was only available in the audio clip, you know they're engaging.
- Market Research Blogs - Give customers a place to suggest and give feedback on new ideas or novel uses for your products or services
- This is somewhat of a cross-over from the product blog, but again, if they give feedback, be sure to act upon it, even if it's to tell them that you've considered their idea but it won't work. Customers like to be acknowledged.
- Customer Support Blogs - Allow customers to ask questions and provide feedback, as well as share tips or insights with each other.
- Sales and Partner Network Blogs - Companies with non-competing sales or distribution networks can share experiences and information easily across firewalls.
Some things I recommend you take into account if you're developing an internal blog:
- Determine who will be the administrator. A single individual should own the overall look, feel and infrastructure of the site and be responsible for any technology "tweaks" and improvements
- Decide who will author the blog. Many times, these small blogs will require more than one voice or expert. Figure out if you want to give your team more than the ability to comment on entries.
- Meet as a team to review the fundamentals and guidelines. You should ensure that everyone is comfortable with the technology and understands why you're using it. If you don't have complete buy-in from the entire team, you might as well not have a blog. Do they understand RSS and feedreaders? Do they know how to comment/post/edit?
- Give your team choices. RSS feed button or email subscription? BOTH! Maybe they are Outlook whizzes and prefer to get emails. That's fine. But let them decide what works best for them.
- Solicit and act upon feedback. You're developing this blog to support your team. Make sure you circle back with them and see how it's working. If there are features or content on it that are of no use to the team, consider thinning it down. If they leave comments about the blog itself, take the time to reply to them.
Finally, if you're using a blog for project management, a sales team, or another small group, I would recommend also setting up your group on
Twitter. It's a microblogging platform that will enable you to share thoughts in real-time, over the Web, phone or IM.
That's about it here. Did I miss something? I'd be interested to know if you've got any experience with other uses of blogs, either internally or externally.
Labels: blogs, corporate blogging, Podcasting, wiki
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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The Power of Social Media
Now this should be interesting. There's a site called Bum Rush the Charts that has been created to demonstrate the power of social media over big media. Basically, here's how the program will work:
To demonstrate that podcasting (in particular) and social media (in general) are forces to be reckoned with, according to the site:
On March 22nd, we are going to take an indie podsafe music artist to number one on the iTunes singles charts as a demonstration of our reach to Main Street and our purchasing power to Wall Street. The track we've chosen is "Mine Again" by the band Black Lab. A band that was dropped from not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic) and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back. We picked them because making them number one, even for just one day, will remind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - and who they ignore at their peril.
When you go to iTunes on March 22 and purchase "Mine Again," you'll not only be supporting this movement, but you'll also be helping kids. The Financial Aid Podcast signed up as an affiliate and plans to use its commission to contribute to college scholarships, and Black Lab plans to donate 50% of its proceeds to the scholarships as well.
This should be fun!Labels: Bum Rush, iTunes, Podcasting
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Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Take Your Technology to Work Day, Part 1: Podcasting
Great article in the Personal Journal section of The Wall Street Journal today: The Boss Puts the iPod to Work (free access until 11/2/06).
Evidently, some managers have come to embrace the iPod as an enabling technology that goes beyond listening to music or watching TV episodes. Some business uses of the iPod include:
- Language classes for employees
- CEO announcements
- Sales seminars
- Audio and video training files
Siemens discovered that it could cut down on the $125,000 it spent on each sales seminar (there are typically 4 per year) by purchasing 100 iPods for its staff at a total cost of $30,000. And companies are discovering the joys of productivity, as employees can listen to company podcasts while commuting or doing other work.
It's encouraging to see that this "new" technology (well, not completely new - the iPod just turned 5) is being brought into the mainstream. As the market continues to mature, I'm sure we'll see other great examples of business uses of blogs and iPods, among others. Have you got any examples? Let me know.
Stay tuned for Part 2 in this series, where I'll talk about a unique new use of blogs that we're trying at my agency.Labels: b2b, New Media, Podcasting
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Friday, September 15, 2006
Podcasting: It's Not Just for Kids Anymore
KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann have embarked on a series of studies regarding the emerging role of new media on marketing. The first focuses on the penetration of podcasting in the B2B space.
This is one of the first surveys focused specifically on the B2B audience and it clearly shows that podcasts, blogs and other new media types are viable mediums for reaching B2B technology buyers.
Podcast usage among B2B technology buyers is significant and growing:
- 41% of survey respondents claim they have listened to podcasts on more than one occasion, while 13% stated that they "frequently" download or listen to them.
- 32% of survey respondents stated their usage of podcasts has "Increased" or "Significantly Increased" in the last six months. The same question yielded 39% for blogs.
- B2B technology buyers are listening to podcasts for business interests, specifically technology-oriented topics
- Nearly 60% of respondents said that information on business or technology topics, currently delivered as white papers or analyst reports, would be more interesting as podcasts.
- 55% of respondents would be more likely to consume white papers and analyst reports if they were delivered as podcasts.
And perhaps the biggest opportunity can evolve from this finding:
- 57% of the frequent podcast users stated their biggest challenge with podcasts is the scarcity of interesting content
Stacy Malone, vice president, interactive media director at Universal McCann concludes:
"Business and technology-related subject material is a perfect match for podcasting content. Podcasts are no longer being used only for pure entertainment value. They are turning into an indispensable, business-critical information tool."
Labels: b2b, New Media, Podcasting
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Story Time
Great post from PodcastingTricks.com about what Starbucks needs to learn in the podcasting business.
It really is about content. Without good content, you've got nothing. Good content/good marketing, boiled down to its essential component, is just storytelling.
Here's a neat little poster of some of Seth Godin's blog posting What Every Good Marketer Knows. Relevant to this post are: - Good marketers tell a story
- Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to
- Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut
Labels: Podcasting, rules
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The ReSultS Are In
As part of its article last week Marketing Reality Check: Blogs, Podcasts and RSS, Advertising Age surveyed readers on their thoughts on timing.
In RSS, Podcasts are Worthwhile Investments, AdAge reports that 63% of respondents think that "marketers need to jump on the new-media bandwagon now, even though Americans aren't commonly using technologies such as RSS and podcasting."
So, even though a small minority of the public listens to podcasts (8%) and an even smaller percentage uses RSS (5%), the call is clear: marketers need to be ahead of the curve, but still need to serve the portion of the audience that requires the more "traditional" media.Labels: New Media, Podcasting, rss
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Thursday, August 24, 2006
Podcasting - Why Are You Waiting?
In his posting, The Real Reason to Podcast on the MarketingProfs blog, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing notes that in the small business market, podcasting is either underestimated or misunderstood (or is that "misunderestimated"?).
Acknowledging that "nobody really gets the true value of podcasting as a marketing tool for the typical small business," he suggests the single most important reason to have a podcast for a small business: you can use your podcast as an excuse to call up an influential leader and request an interview for a podcast show. No one can resist an offer to be interviewed for a radio-like show.
This is so simple, yet so brilliant. Your business gets that introduction you've wanted, listeners get to hear an expert speak and your brand is given more consideration as a thought leader.Labels: Podcasting, strategy
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Practical Podcasting Guide
MarketingSherpa provides some great insights and tips on podcasting. At this point, this should be our bible. The link may not be permanent, so here are some of the findings, including three surprises, three mistakes to avoid and five rules of podcasting.
Surprise #1: Total listenership
As of June, 22% of people had even heard of "podcasting" but only 11% had ever listened to one. It seems these early adopters weren't all terribly impressed either. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, just 6.6% of the online population in July recently downloaded an audio podcast. That's about 9.2 million US adults.
The good news is there's room to grow and an opportunity to prove yourself.
Surprise #2. Specific demographics
According to Arbitron, podcasting listenership is fairly even across the sexes with women at 48%. Plus, only 32% of listeners are aged 18-34. At 45%, the biggest demographic slice of listeners is 35 or older, with 17% in the 45-54 age group.
This is great news again - podcasting has hit the mainstream rather than the young early-adopter segment. Especially significant in the B-to-B segment.
Surprise #3. Listening platforms
According to a May 2006 Podtrac survey, 56% of the audience listen via their computers instead of a portable device.
Any creative approach to podcasts should be done for dual platforms.
Specific tips on creating a podcast that works as a marketing tool
Many of the most successful podcasts resemble a cross between a regularly published email newsletter with several interesting articles, a personal blog with a strong individual tone, and a radio talk show with must-meet guest stars. So the best qualities are:
- Strong Voice - not just the sound but the style
- Steadiness of publication - not a one-off, but a continuing series
- Variety - different guests-stars, different "articles"
Some mistakes to avoid
Mistake #1. Shovelware
Don't just read your Web site content or email articles into a microphone. If your fans wanted that, they could go online to see it. Create fresh content that's interesting to listen to - guests, two-way conversations, rants, etc.
Mistake #2. Sales pitch
You may get a few people to download a podcast that's a lightly disguised sales pitch once… but chances are none of them will bother to download or listen to the next installment. Just as with email newsletters, the best-loved podcasts offer content the listeners find valuable and/or highly entertaining.
Mistake #3. Testing just one to start
As with email newsletters or drive-time radio shows, the most successful podcasts build brand impact from listener relationships over time. It's not a one-off medium. If you create only one, you may not ever get the audience or impact your podcast deserves. Or, if your single podcast defies the odds to become insanely successful, you may not be ready with a follow-up series in time to catch the wave.
Five more content and production rules:
Rule #1: Keep it short
The ideal length of a podcast is 10 minutes to 20 minutes. “If you go more than 25 minutes, you’re outside the average commute,” says Walch. Or past the average treadmill workout.
Rule #2. Don't drone from a script
Although some corporate podcasts are scripted, just as with the blogworld, anything with too many corporate communications editors involved can turn the audience off.
Rule #3. Copywrite your podcast title carefully
If you're hoping for iTunes traffic to discover you, as well as users on other major podcasting directories, remember you're competing with tens of thousands of other podcasts. Pick a name for your podcast that matches your content topic. People are likely to search for a particular subject (rather than a brand name) when they visit iTunes. (Note: This is just like any other type of search marketing -- it’s all about keywords.)
Rule #4. Schedule a calendar (ongoing or limited-series)
Many podcasting experts say the best frequency is weekly. However, if you're not sure if you're up to the work, nor if the audience demand will be there, you probably should start with a slower calendar. Podcasting as with blogging and email newsletters can be exhausting for the long haul.
Not sure if you're up to starting a podcast series that will go on until the end of time? It's a scary commitment. Our suggestion, try the waters first with a limited run podcast series. Just as with an emailed "e-course", a single-season TV series, or a novel with chapters, you'd have a story arc, and announce up front how long the entire podcast will be.
Each episode would be developed to play in context of the rest, and the entire series would be as evergreen as possible so newbies can start with podcast #1 at any time and work their way through the series at their own pace.
Rule #5. Best time of day may be nighttime
Many podcasting enthusiasts dock their iPods overnight and then listen to whatever's new the next morning.
Labels: Podcasting, rules, strategy
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Monday, August 21, 2006
What the #%^*! are Blogs, Pods and RSS?!?
Or so you may have heard a client utter. As an agency, we are expected to present a range of choices for our clients, giving them our expert advice on which channels will give them what they need. Into this mix we are increasingly seeing more opportunities for social media.
Well, AdAge has done a quick reality check on blogs, podasts and RSS feeds with statistics that might not seem too encouraging in this area:
- 7% of American adults write blogs and 22% read them (Jupiter)
- About 8% listen to podcasts and 5% use RSS feeds (Jupiter)
- 88% of the at-work audience doesn't know what RSS is (WorkPlace Print Media)
- 92% of brand conversations were taking place offline (Keller Fay)
Not to be totally sandbagged, Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion isn't worried. While he acknowledges the hype, he advocates getting involved early in order to influence the Long Tail.
Bottom line: print and TV aren't going away any time soon. But the vast ways that the Internet allows us to communicate with each other are continuing to evolve. It's our duty as marketing consultants to be aware of everything and to develop customized marketing mixes for each client which will allow them to achieve their goals.Labels: blogs, New Media, Podcasting, rss
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