Business to Business Podcasting

Podcasts are basically mp3 files that follow the form of a radio or talk show. Instead of costing tens of thousands of dollars to produce it, like a radio show, however, it costs only the price of a mike and a website. The most common way podcasts are delivered to the user is through website download or through an RSS feed. They can then listen to the show at their leisure. They are not tied down to any specific air time like classical delivery systems of media. This presents an interesting opportunity to jump into business to business podcasting.

What a podcast really is is a conversation. Even though it is pretty one sided, people listen in and they either agree or disagree with you. Just as long as they are listening to you, you are building a relationship with your listeners. That is the key problem when dealing with podcasts is how to get people to listen to you and there is only one reason for people to listen to your podcast show: Value.

If you use the time that you have their attention to try to pitch them on many different types of products that you have for sale then their attention will soon wane. They are not getting paid to listen to you so you better make it worth their while. Especially if you are going to subject them to adds. Providing your listeners with some knowledge that they can apply in their real world life will usually be enough to keep them engaged but you want them to have a relationship with you so that you will be able to use them as business to business lead generation.

Useful entertainment is the answer. This dosen't necessarily means that you have to make a buffoon out of yourself. For instance, flip on Bloomberg or CNN. Some may think that it is not the most entertaining programming in the world but their ratings would disagree. One of the biggest features of the twenty four hour news network is the interview. They commonly interview many big name newsmakers. You can follow this, and try to snag interviews with big players in your industry. If it is someone with an audience, then that audience will come to your podcast, some of them will even stay. It will be hard to get interviews at first but after your podcast gets one exposure you will find people knocking on your door trying to get on.

Remember to think of adding value to your listeners and don't think of how to increase your bottom line straight off the bat. The marketing will come.

Source:
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=DIRECTMARKETING , Business To Business Online