This IT World Canada article on corporate podcasting uses the micro brewery industry as an example of publishing an audio or video podcast to reach people who are interested in a niche product.

A few of the key points in this article are:

• inhouse vs. outsource production?…although podcasting software and hardware range from free to inexpensive, do you have the time to do it? And to do it right?
  • By outsourcing, you will have a resource dedicated to producing your podcast and making certain that it is published on a regular basis, produced to an acceptable level of quality and tied into your other martketing initiatives;
• owned by IT or marketing?… the answer in this article is a good one – content is owned by marketing and the technical elements are managed and supported by IT. A co-operative effort;
  • Don’t forget – content is the most important element of your podcast;
• podcast vs. static media…since podcasts are typically downloaded versus static audio or video which is streamed, the podcast method has a lower impact on your web server bandwidth;
  • This relates to both performance and costs. Consider increasing your bandwidth availablity for a period of time when the podcast is published. This is when your server will get the most traffic as the episode is downloaded;
• promoting your podcast… the field of dreams syndrome (build it and they will come) will not work here;
  • You need to promote your podcast through the following methods: listings in podcast directories (e.g. iTunes, Canada Podcast Directory, etc), promotion of the podcast with your other marketing initiatives, missionary work to help your customers understand what podcasts are and assisting them on how to access your podcast.

A personal blog and podcast is different from a corporate effort not just in content and audience, but in:

• production quality;
• commitment to support your audience interest through regularly scheduled episode publishing;
• topics that are of interest to your audience.

Remember…your audience can be existing customers or potential customers, so make it worth their while to subscribe and listen to your podcast.

Dean Owen

pdf version