A Business Case for Podcasting


Written by Adele Alfano
Saturday, 08 March 2008

Why podcast your business? Why not? It’s a way you can reach your target audience and communicate your message at a very low cost.

Podcasting allows you to take advantage of one of the most powerful marketing tools of all: the persuasiveness of the human voice. It’s the universal instrument that’s second to none when it comes to conveying your message. Just think of all those professional voice actors who are hired to record messages, commercials, training videos, audio books, narration for documentaries, sales pitches, business presentations, animation voice-overs, video game character voices and telephone systems!

It’s your own radio show
Podcasting is like creating your very own syndicated radio show and delivering it over the Internet to permissive and attentive listeners. That’s what makes it such a great way for businesses to market their products or services; educational facilities to deliver on-demand e-learning; organizations to promote their causes and activities; corporations to provide off-site training, and individuals to share their knowledge about specific topics.

In his book All Marketers Are Liars, Seth Godin asks you to consider what it was like for people in the Golden Age of Advertising. Companies readily spent all their advertising dollars on television, just to have an opportunity to directly market nation-wide viewers. If marketed well, even an average product yielded a profit. And the products viewers found exceptionally useful enjoyed greater success.

But when TV become more complex with expanded channel offerings, it became harder for companies to have a presence on multiple networks. Suddenly the public became pickier—demanding that products met their own desires, wants and standards, rather than believing and buying what the mass media was telling them.

It’s all about having a story to tell

To keep up, marketers created a new way of capturing public attention: story telling. And consumers embraced these stories and spread them like wildfire to their family, friends and coworkers. And in so doing, chose for themselves to believe in the promises of various consumer goods and services. As their acceptance grew, so did their enthusiasm—resulting in more and more sales.

Like all good marketers, podcasters create stories their targets believe, repeat to themselves and identify with. Seth Godin calls these stories “lies,” however quickly reveals they are anything but. Other than good storytelling, the only requirement for the story you want to tell is that it must be true. Then your audience will acknowledge and spread it for you.

Is your story ready?Then share it with your customers by creating a podcast. Here are a few sites with simple step-by-step instructions to get you started:

Free Podcast Tutorial
Podcasting Tool’s How to Podcast
About.com’s How to Podcast
How Stuff Works podcasting tips

Podcast away and record the number of people listening and subscribing—and watch how quickly your audience grows when you have a story that resonates with them. And remember to always end your podcast with your tagline/brand message for extra marketing oomph!

Author Resource: Adelle Alfano is an award-winning professional speaker, author and co-publisher who has helped thousands of people capitalize on their unique abilities to maximize their potential through her specially designed systems. Her proven techniques have helped people mine passion and purpose in their lives and in an evolving workplace. Adele is also the co-author, co-editor and publisher for a series of collaborative books titled Experts Who Speak Books and is also the founder of the sold-out fundraising events in Southwestern Ontario called Kiss my Tiara