Podcasts are perhaps one of the most under rated tools that you can use in order to help promote your business. In Part One of this article I will walk you through exactly what a podcast is and why it is something that you should be using for your business.

It is evident these days that with the continual advances in technology that we’re seeing, the ability to record and produce a podcast has now become a pretty simplistic task. You certainly no longer need radio station or studio-quality recording equipment in order to produce a good quality podcast for your audience.

But why do it in the first place?

What Is A Podcast?

Well, lets start by looking at exactly what a podcast is. To put it into its simplest terms, a podcast is essentially an audio clip (or audio file) that can be placed (often referred to as embedded) anywhere on your website, and can potentially be listened to by anyone who visits your site.

Podcasting first became popular in 2005 with the launch of iTunes. If the latest statistics are to be believed, and given the current trends in the sales of portable media devices, as many as 275 million people around the world will own a portable media player by the year 2011.

This fact alone clearly demonstrates the popularity of listening on the move, or at least listening when it is convenient.

So why is this important?

Well, for prospects or customers who are interested in the audio that you have produced, it can also be downloaded onto an mp3 media device or onto a computer. In addition, there is also the possibility that people may want to subscribe to your podcasts, and as you’ll find out in Part Two of this article, this is something that can provide huge potential success and opportunities for your business.

So one critical reason why podcasts offer such potential benefits for your business is by downloading it, your listener can digest your podcast at a convenient time to them.

This is an important distinction because it fits in perfectly within the new ‘permission marketing’ framework that I have mentioned in previous articles. If you can use a media (such as podcasting) that your target audience is using and is comfortable with, you have an opportunity to get your message across more effectively.

Providing Choice Is So Important

Having a choice of how and when to see or hear your company’s message fits in perfectly with the way that your potential customers live their lives today. It can also carry more weight and effectiveness, as you are not ramming your company’s message down the throat of every poor, unsuspecting person that walks by.

This is one of the reasons why podcasts are as popular as they are. We all have so little time on our hands these days and we are bombarded with literally hundreds upon hundreds of marketing messages each and every day. But with a podcast, it can be downloaded and listened to at home, at work, on the train, on the tube, in fact anywhere.

And by producing podcasts your business will be perceived as being different. This is also very important, and something that I will cover in Part Two of this article.

Author Bio: Simon Thurston is an expert business consultant and marketing consultant, and author of “The Death Of Traditional Marketing”. You can find out more about him by visiting his blog today at simonpaulthurston.com.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: podcasting,podcasts,simon thurston,internet marketing,business help,business marketing,iTunes