Small Business Marketing Through Podcasts
The online world slowly and subtly has been replacing all other means of communication and entertainment, let that be the favorite companion i.e. a television set, today's newspaper or the old reliable radio box. This transition also implicitly covers various other facets than the stated entertainment factor like marketing. You still need to reach your customers, television or no television. But how do you go about it is the key question. Well the first thing that could now strike is by advertising on various websites and use of pop ups. This is certainly a known tool and am sure that an attempt to scroll through this article must have entailed an effort to ignore various pop ups that disturbed on the way.
What most of us do not know is another influential form of marketing, especially for smaller players, that reaches out to your target customer base in a much elegant form; PODCASTS. The term might seem new but than this should be blamed upon the scant knowledge one could gather in this aspect. Lack of professional guidance is another close successor leading to relatively less use of this easy but excellent technology for marketing purposes.
Podcasts, or more easily comprehended as (i)pod - (broad)cast(ing), were introduced around 2000 and use XML based technology referred to as RSS (Real Simple Syndication). And believe me; if you understand the concept well, the use is actually quite simple. All you need to do is, prepare your media presentation or whatever form of marketing statement you intend to broadcast and upload it on your website using any of the easily available devices like a handy cam, Microsoft Media Player or RealPlayer by RealNetworks or a digital tape recorder. This form of communication can than be downloads by the viewer's either on their ipods or iriver devices.
Podcasts: Things to Consider:
Especially suited to the requirements of a small business, this easy form of reaching out is an inexpensive mode and requires the least technical aid. However before jumping on to things, few aspects must be paid due attention:
o Select an appropriate speaker or presenter who leaves a mark on your prospective listeners or viewers.
o Check, check and check before you present. This is an important statement and therefore makes sure to avoid any plausible mistakes in you presentation.
o Couple the audio or video with right pictures and case studies (if so required)
o And last but not the least; take up professional guidance before deploying podcasting as a mode of marketing. An expert can take you through the steps easily and can certainly help churn out a wonderful product. Moreover this will add the much desired professional touch.
Podcasts is definitely an effective and efficient mode of marketing your products or services. Add this edge to your entire campaign and see the difference for yourself.