Podcasts reach a different audience than text only content.
Text is for your reading audience.
Audio and video are for your listening and watching audience.
Did you know that most podcasts are played on a computer and not on a portable device? It's true.
Using audio or video podcasts to expand your reach and make a special connection to potential customers is a great way to increase your web presence.
Just to ease your mind, let me share with you how it works for an audio podcast: 1) create/edit audio using software 2) upload audio file to webhost or other media hosting service 3) use blog or other service to add the audio file automatically to rss feed 4) tell the world about your podcast rss feed Content that is delivered via audio or video brings a lot more traffic.
It's because that type of content can be pushed out to include a whole different group of consumers, those that like to get content via a medium that can be downloaded to a mobile device.
Do you want to know why I really like offering video tips? It's because I can include a slide or two marketing my business or a new product or service launch.
Whenever I offer new free training I include that information on my next video tip.
I always see a spike of people signing up on my site when that podcast goes live.
You can do something similar with audio only, you'll just record yourself saying it instead.
When people hear your voice, they make a connection with you.
If they can watch you demo something, they see your knowledge and skills being displayed right before their very eyes.
You engage with them, even when you're not there.
This is very powerful stuff.
Is there something keeping you from starting a podcast about your business? For most people, it's the lack of good things to podcast about.
Fortunately, it's not as hard as you might think to come up with great ideas for a business podcast.
Here are fifteen ideas that'll get you started, but don't stop there.
These fifteen things aren't all the great business podcast ideas out there.
1.
Interviews on a topic related to your industry or business - Talk to experts and get their opinion on important issues that influence your business sector.
2.
Panel discussions - Record a panel of people on conference call discussing a specific topic of import to your business and your customers.
3.
Tutorials - Students can download these for later reference, learning about topics that are important to them.
This also works well for coaching sessions.
4.
Announcements - Let your listeners know about new services, products, or classes that are coming up.
5.
Testimonials - Allow your customers to call in and tell you what they love about your product or service.
These can then be included in your podcast.
There's little more powerful than hearing a real customer talk about what you've done for them, especially when it comes to converting prospective clients into a customer.
6.
Interactivity - Put out a question to your listeners over the course of your podcast.
Offer a call-in line that'll send you calls as attachments via email, then use a free conversion tool like Audacity to convert those wav files to mp3.
Those files can then be strung together and uploaded to your podcast, so that callers can make suggestions on things they'd like you to cover and the issues they want to hear about.
7.
Regular discussion of focused business topics - Do this daily, weekly, monthly, or on whatever schedule you prefer.
Just be sure to stick to that schedule as closely as you can.
8.
Industry news - Regular discussion of industry or business news can be effective, too.
Use Google Alerts to make sure you can get the latest information based on your preferred keywords, and you'll have instant content for your podcast.
9.
Newsletters - A podcast is a great way to deliver an online newsletter.
Allow each episode to concentrate on one or two articles, and make your newsletter a lot more exciting.
10.
Stand out - Your podcast is also an excellent way to tell listeners what's different about you, and what makes your product or service better than what the competitors have to offer.
11.
Case studies - You can talk about specific instances where your product or service has helped customers.
That allows your audience to understand what you can do for them on a more personal level.
Consider a recorded interview from a client, too.
12.
Your background - Your listeners want to know more about you.
Discuss you business goals, background, and inspiration to allow your audience to know you better and feel as though they've managed to make a connection with you.
13.
Serials - A long concept that takes more than one episode to cover will keep your audience coming back.
This is a good technique.
14.
Third party products - There are probably products and services that enhance what you do.
Try to do a recorded interview with the creator of that service or product - you'll be doing both of you a favor by letting the audience know about it.
If you could do a video demo of the product, that's even better! 15.
Calls to action - You can tailor your podcast so that your listeners will hear a specific call to action.
That might be to register for seminars, download informative materials, ask for more information, contact your company or place an order.
Here's a little tip to help you come up with ideas to podcast about: Any time you answer a question, that is a good topic for a podcast.
Think about this, if you are the go-to person that people come to for answers about how to work with a particular product or service, this is a great opportunity to offer your answers in the form of an audio or video podcast.
If one person is asking you about it, more than likely others have the same questions.
Make sure you're not giving away the farm.
Offer basic tips and techniques to draw others to your business and services.
I always keep a running list of future podcasts in a small notebook next to me at all times.
You never know when an idea will come to you.
Happy Podcasting!