What can a podcast do for your brand?

Corporations ….  will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.
the cluetrain manifesto

A podcast gives you the chance to create content that people really want that, at the same time, adds to their experience of your brand.

If you create great content, people will listen to it. They will tell other people about it and, therefore, about you. This is the power of social media and we’ve all felt it. At last, there aren’t media owners to get past when it comes to getting your message out there. But, before we get carried away, have a look at this:

Unlike traditional media, social media should not be entirely controlled by a company with a narrow agenda or by hard selling techniques. Any company trying to control it will fail miserably. This means that being an active participant is key…
Gino Cosme, South African new media marketing strategist

This is not about creating a stream of infomercials. Apart from anything else, no one would listen to them. This is about understanding those you need to talk to and providing them with content they crave. It is about talking with them instead of at them and then responding to what they have to say. It can be potent stuff.

What else makes podcasts so powerful?

A podcast is:
Targetable – you can create content for your niche audiences in a way that was too difficult and too expensive before.
Measurable – you know who has downloaded or subscribed to your podcast and how many of them.
Controllable – you decide what goes in.
Responsive – through two-way communication via a blog you can alter content according to response, you can get a sense of what people really want to know and want to talk about, you can talk back.
Boundary free – the web is worldwide.
Inexpensive – compare the cost of a year’s podcasting to making and flighting one TV ad (which might get fast-forwarded anyway).

…podcasting represents an attractive medium, given its targeting, its low cost and its obsessive/passionate user base. These people are an excellent media target. It’s a self-selecting medium. These people are into it and they’re really into it.
James Belcher, eMarketing analyst, Media Week US, 2007.