Increase Sales with Podcasting

Podcasting has become an increasingly popular way to market your business. Although this form of promotion has only been around since 2004 it has grown in popularity and has now become a hot trend in e-commerce.

What is podcasting? It is used to publish audio and video content through RSS feeds. The RSS feed will contain an audio file like an MP3 that subscribers can download. Now there are audio/video files available also. A podcast is similar to a radio show that is downloaded by subscribers and can be played at a later date.

It is convenient for consumers as the podcast can be downloaded and then listened to anytime or place they want. The podcast can be listened to on an Ipod system. These are portable systems that can be taken anywhere. This is ideal for our hectic lives as they can be listened to on our way to work or even relaxing on vacation. If you want to listen to it immediately many RSS readers now support audio/video enclosures. Now more websites are enabling visitors to download podcasts with clickable links to audio/video files.

Here are a few of the many uses of podcasts:

Self-Guided Walking through Tours
Talk Shows (discussions, commentaries)
Music - (demo’s)
Training (instructional materials)
Story - Story telling for children or the visually impaired.

There are a variety of presentations that can be converted into a podcast and as you can see there is a lot of potential in this form of marketing.

Steps to setting up your podcast

Planning and development: decide on your market.
a.    Who are you trying to reach and what are their interests
b.    Plan your show around their interests-for example you are in the software business you might want to make a podcast about your latest, hot piece of software. How to use it-benefits for your prospect’s business etc. you would put the download link in your section about your software product (for example article or review information)
c.    Forums and discussion boards are good sources for information and ideas for hot topics that your market will enjoy and you can make a podcast on.
Finding a provider service: There are several choices and it is best to do some research and shop around for this. Audacity is a good company, is free and allows multiple mixing of audio files.
Recording-do it yourself: You will need:
d.    Audio recording software-to record audio files
e.    Replay radio- will help you record selectively
f.    Mix Craft-will help you record and mix podcasts
g.    TestAloud-allows you to type and paste in text then save to MP3 for your podcast
A word of caution, try to use the best recording equipment you can. The quality of your podcast will reflect on you and your sales. A poor recording will ruin your credibility and lose you customers. Test your recording room to make sure there are no echoes or resonance.

Use a digital recorder: there is a free editor called “audacity” or you can use a service that specializes in audio and video distribution. You can add royalty free music to your podcast.
Save your podcast show: try to save it in its original format so that you can always reuse or edit.
Convert your file to MP3 format: Save your audio file to MP3 format. MP3 is the most commonly used format for podcasts and will enable most of your subscribers to enjoy. Here are some settings:
48 - 56k Mono - sermons, audio books, talk radio
64k+ Stereo - music, music & talk combinations
128k Stereo - good quality music
Be sure to save with MP3 file extension.

Publish your MP3: Save your MP3 to your web server. Try to put in one directory.
Create a  podcast news feed: You cn use a blogging program to create an RSS feed and link it to your MP3 file for your podcast. You can edit your RSS file with any text editor to add the enclosure tag. For example:
<enclosure url=”http://static.podcatch.com/manila/gems/un/TS20041107.mp3″ length=”49885056″ type=”audio/mpeg”/>
Publish your podcast news feed - transfer your podcast RSS file to your web server, like you would any other content. Validate it using an  http://feedvalidator.org/. If the podcast news feed is valid, it’s ready to be published to the web.
You cn use a provider server like ITunes
Your next step will be to market your podcast: Here are a few ways to do this:
Direct marketing
Articles-write an article about your podcast or related subject to create interest for your visitors and insert a link to your podcast page.
Website promotion- make a special page for your podcast and drive traffic to it. Optimize it and submit to search engines. Use PPC and Google Adwords to drive more traffic to your page.
Podcast directory- you can add your site or podcast page to the Podcast Directory.

Let your creativity soar with this fun and exciting form of promotion. Originality is the key to business success and podcasting will help you achieve your goals. If you have any further questions on this please do not hesitate to contact me.

May 30, 2006 – 5:29 pm by Constantin Chersin