Casting a Pod
I attended a podcasting seminar this week held by the Triangle Marketing Club. I must admit that I didn’t regularly attend many local marketing activities or organizational meetings but was interested in learning more about podcasting. Greg Hyer was presenting and about 75 eager marketers came out to listen to his presentation. Greg has a podcast called Linking into Sales. Learn more about Greg here and what he is doing in casting a pod.
Podcasting interests me for several reasons:
- Most marketers tend to underestimate the potential of the platform
- 49% of the U.S. adult population have heard the phrase podcasting
- Almost 17% of the U.S. adult population has listened to a podcast in the last month according to Edison Research
- 10% of the U.S. adult population has listened to a podcast in the last week
- The audience is 50/50 men and women
- It is also more evenly spread out among all age groups
- Podcasting is a very simple way to reach out to potential customers and to build relationships through interviews and conversations about your industry’s hot topics
- Podcasting tends to reach a much more affluent and educated consumer
Casting a Pod
How could a podcast help you generate leads, start relationships and build connections? Imagine your run a B2B wholesale electrical company selling products and services to manufacturers. Your marketing activities in the past consisted of advertising in industry magazines for manufacturers or the occasional direct mail postcard.
What would happen if your CEO or another senior company executive started a weekly podcast?
- The CEO could call up any potential customer and say, I’d like to interview on my podcast
- It will take 30 minutes and I am interested in learning your opinion about the latest industry trends on a new technology
- We can talk in person or via the telephone – nothing fancy required to be on the show
- The conversation will be on iTunes and distributed globally to an audience of people interested in electrical products for modern manufacturers
- The podcast is relatively new, but we are already building up a nice regular audience of listeners
- This discussion will help promote you (the person being interviewed) as a thought leader
Benefits for your Company
- Your company is seen as helping the industry
- You get to begin a relationship with a potential customer, slowly building a connection
- You can share your podcast through other marketing methods to other industry leaders as well as to your targeted customer base
- Instead of promoting what you sell, you are promoting who you are – a valued industry partner
- You gain trust
- Doors open
From B2B to B2C, podcasting is a powerful content delivery mechanism. It is only going to keep growing as it gets expanded into new platforms like cars audio/radio systems that are connected to the Internet. Foi those who want to get involved in content marketing and writing a blog is not your style, a podcast might be the best way to start catching the fish you are trying to hook.
Why not cast a line my way and let’s talk about how this idea can work for you. Pick my brain by setting up a call.
