By To-Wen Tseng
Should you, as a small business owner, podcast? Sure. Just think about it and consider what added value it could give you.
Podcast allows individuals and businesses to create and distribute original audio programs via the Internet. Often formatted like a radio show, a podcast is a multimedia file downloaded by its audience.
Podcasting is one of those technologies that are not yet a core small business-marketing tool but one that can be an enhancement to your existing online marketing efforts and can help build relationships with clients. It enables you to connect with your audience via audio instead of just text—as with a blog
More than 25 million fans tuned in to podcasts in 2008. And according to OMMA Magazine, a publication for online media, marketing and advertising, that number is expected to rise to 50 million by 2010.
Podcasts have become popular largely because of their distinctive content, finding niche audiences and giving voices to people outside the mainstream media. Podcasts are also portable. Programs can be heard on-demand whenever and wherever it may be convenient using computers, portable media players, or other devices. Similar to a blog, subscribers can receive podcasts automatically.
And just like starting a blog, creating a web site, or launching a newsletter, if you decide to podcast, you should do it right. Here are three tips from Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends:
First, don’t forget to offer your audio recordings in MP3 format. Second, do offer a transcript of the recording or at the very least offer some text that hits the highlights of the audio recording.
Third, don’t forget to offer an RSS feed in which your podcasts are enclosed.
According to John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, from a marketing standpoint, things got really exciting when Apple decided to make a podcast directory a primary component of iTunes. When that happened, the market for podcasting on any subject imaginable was born. From a technical standpoint, there’s nothing really too complicated about podcasting, so don’t think this is some geeky tech stuff.
To create a podcast is not hard, but usually requires a quality microphone, recording equipment, and a quiet place to host the audio files. You will then need to create an XML file to instruct podcast readers how to download your new podcast audio file.
To publish a podcast, you can use blogging tools such as Bloger, TypePad, or MovableType. If you already use one of these blog services, creating your podcast is as simple as linking to your audio files and using a service like Google FeedBurner to automatically convert into a podcast friendly feed.
If you need some more technical support, there are many tools to make podcasting even simpler for small business owners. GoDaddy.com’s Quick Podcast is one of them. Starting at $3.99 per month, it helps users host and publish their podcast employing a Go Daddy developed, easy-to-use platform. After uploading the media file for the program, the system generates and publishes the RSS feed.
If you need an even easier way to podcast, you can choose to do it with only a phone, no computer (only for the initial setup), microphone, or fancy programming.
And no, you don’t need a special telephone. You can use your cell phone or even VolP (Voice over Internet Protocol), if this suits you. If you choose to “moblogging”—go on the road and do your podcasts from your mobile phone, you can.
You will only need to use your computer to sign up for a podcatching service such Hipcast, Gcast, or Gabcast. The podcatching service will capture the recording and make it playable on your web page or blog. Once after the initial setup, you will never have to be seated at your computer when you do your podcast.