Podcasting has been an integral part of my content marketing strategy since 2009. This medium has opened up more doors and connections and established my professional credibility, more than just about any marketing platform that I have used.

By definition, a podcast is:

“A type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio, video, PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device.”

Since the 1930’s there have been radio talk shows and news programs. Today, through the evolution of the Internet capabilities, along with cheaper hardware and software, audio podcasts are doing what was historically done through radio broadcast stations.

There is growing buzz and data that suggests a big uptick and an increased usage of podcasting for good reasons. Podcasts are instructional, fun, mobile friendly, more personal, brand builders and easy to do. People are podcasting on anything you can imagine from business, cooking, travel, sewing, sports,  investing, being a working Mom or single Dad,  and are finding an audience for them.

One of the key benefits of audio podcasts is the power of listening, hearing someone talking to you, and that theater of the mind allows people to concentrate and learn better.

Reading an article or book is very effective but listening to someone talk to you, hearing their voice talking to you about something you are interested in increases engagement. The archived podcast also allows people to go back and listen at their convenience and radio/audio is an iconic, mature media that people know and trust.

B2B marketers, responding to an Optify survey, reported the 3 most important elements of successful content.  Survey respondents resoundingly chose:

• Engaging and compelling story telling (81.5%)
• Originality (52.6%)
• Custom content (49.2%)

If you want to educate, entertain and serve people with great content, podcast radio is hard to beat.

Below I’ve listed 4 simple guidelines for creating and promoting successful podcasts:

Selectively Choose Content 

Align your content with who you are and what you want to be known for.  Ask yourself, “What are you knowledgeable about that there is an audience for?” And, “What do you want to be known for?”

Be Consistent

Consistently perform your segments and integrate them into your overall content marketing strategy.  Make your podcast, email marketing, social media and blog all work together.

Pick The Format And Style That Best Suits You

Whether it be interview format, conversational style or instructional in nature.  And if you are interviewing, make sure you feature people who have good energy and have their own active social marketing platforms.

Brand Your Podcast

Make sure you are branding and presenting your podcast with a graphic logo or avatar and a produced open and close segment. Practice doing them for a few weeks before you go live so that you get comfortable and always present yourself as someone who is serious and professional.

There are some great articles on why you should podcast, so do some research.  And if you’re interested in podcasting, below are some of the top radio podcasting networks and platforms that you can research, too:

• Blogtalkradio.com
• Itunes.com
• Epodcastnetwork.com
• Earwolf.com

And be sure to check out what some of the top podcasts are talking about, as well as how NPR, Radiolab, and ESPN present them.  And tell us, what are some of  your favorite podcasts?

On The Air Photo via Shutterstock

[“source-smallbiztrends”]