"Sometimes you come up with an idea that requires creative and technical wizardry to provide an internal client with exceptional value. Then, after the initial excitement has worn off, the scale and difficulty of the task becomes apparent. 
PODCASTING AS A MARKETING TOOL
Whatever your experience, there is significant evidence that a growing number of companies are using podcasting as part of their marketing communications.
The Marketing Opportunity
One of the reasons for this is that an increasing number of individuals are integrating podcasts into their daily information-gathering routine. Whatever your product or service, it is worth tapping in to this kind of behaviour.
If you offer a product or service, here are four podcasting channels with marketing opportunity:
1. Product Information/White Paper — downloadable product-related podcasts which give customers in-depth information that can be used in conjunction with printed literature. You are giving customers the option to listen to what you have to say rather than just read.
2. Training — regularly updated training that can be received, stopped and re-started at times which are convenient.
3. Public Relations — a growing number of press releases now include an audio interview where key members of management comment on the information in the release.
4. Corporate Audio Blogs — the blogging population already numbers tens of millions and there is now a trend towards recorded corporate blogs. They have the potential to have a massive impact on the way that CEOs and other senior employees inform, involve and inspire their target market.
Each of these approaches offers you the chance to build on:
Invitation Marketing — by making your podcast openly available, you are inviting potential clients to be informed rather than forcing them. This means that such subscribers are pre-qualified and offer a higher chance of becoming your customer.
Relationship Building — as a subscriber is a regular customer who is happy for you to talk to him regularly, you create an ongoing relationship and build customer loyalty.
Branding — the very act of podcasting, in whatever format, is an ongoing and effective way of promoting your brand.
Marketing Your Podcast
Apart from your own website, the best way to market your podcast is to have it seen and listed on any of the growing number of podcast directories. Type ‘podcast directory’ into Google and you won’t be short of options. You should also consider subscribing to those sites that specialise in your area of business activity.
E-mail all your existing clients with a link to your podcast service, as well as those on your marketing list.
Finally, consider putting in place some tracking technology in order to monitor download activity and subscriptions. In this way, you will gradually build a picture of what subscribers do and don’t wish to listen to.
Experiment
Podcasting is relatively inexpensive to produce, so be prepared to experiment. Choose a channel that you feel could be beneficial to you and make a recording. It will only be when you make a commitment that you will start to appreciate the potential business benefits.