The Advantages of NOT Podcasting

Many online marketers have heard the buzz about podcasting, and it's only natural that they want to find out what it's all about and start their own podcast. What better way to promote your own product by producing the show? It does seem like a reasonable assumption, until the hosts experience burnout.

Hosting a podcast takes a lot of work. You'll need to come up with fresh show ideas, line up people to interview for the show and work around the schedule of those you wish to have as guests. You have to assemble the show into something that sounds professional. To gain listenership, you need to promote and market the show. Finally, you have to release the show on time and consistently. The more often your show is produced, the tighter your schedule is.

Many business podcasters don't take all these into consideration. After a few episodes, they lack vision on the content and lose the desire to keep the show.

Does that mean businesses shouldn't use podcasts? Not at all. There are other ways you can leverage podcasts. The key is to take advantage of the large number of podcasts already out there and to view them as mini internet radio stations.

Advertising on podcasts. Podcasts come in a wide range of topics from learning new languages to business related. No matter who your target market it, you're more than likely to find a podcast that is already speaking to the people you are looking to reach. One great place to find podcasts is to visit iTunes or any podcast directory and do a search for the topic you are looking for. Contact the podcast host and ask them if you can advertise with them if they don't already have an advertising plan set up.

Be a guest. Some podcasts are very influential. To listeners, guests seem important and by virtue of association, you and your company is viewed in a positive light - assuming of course the interview is a positive one. By appearing as a guest on a show, you also get a much longer time to present your product. In addition, guests come across as experts in their field. So this is a great advantage to build recognition.

Be a contributor. Podcasters are always on the look out for good content to help them fill up the time. Contact a podcaster in your niche and offer to be a contributor to their show. Depending on the frequency of publication, tell them you will send over short two or three minute segments filled with quality information. Advertise your product by mentioning your website URL in those segments. They would probably give you a chance since you help make their work easier, for free.

Though this means you will still need to produce your own segment and spend a little time doing so, it's nowhere near like doing your own show. Also, you can dig up your old articles or email newsletters and create audio versions of them. This helps you quickly generate segments.

Syndicate it. While you're already creating segments, why not distribute your segment to other interested podcasters. That way, you get more use out of your hard work and you reach a larger group of people.

Don't create your own podcast before you really spend some time thinking about how you can be contributing to other people's podcasts. By being a guest host or weekly contributor you will be building up your own personal branding without having to spend a lot of time or expense producing your own show.

Make Your Own Podcast - Selecting The Right Format

You may have a great topic for your podcast, and great content, but for a podcast to be its best, you should come up with a specific format for your show and, for the most part, stick to it.

There are many things that make up the format of a podcast. The two that I'll cover in this article are the parts, or segments that make up a podcast, and the style you decide upon.

Segments: If you listen to a radio show you'll often hear news at the top of the hour, then sports, then weather, back into music for a several minutes, then a commercial break, a listener's phone call, back into music, etc.

All of those parts combine to make up the show. And while podcasting gives you the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, most people are more comfortable when they have an idea of what's going on -- in this case, I'm talking about your listeners.

Familiarity allows your listeners to not think about the format and just go with the content. And while you don't have to lock yourself into something really precise, it's a good idea to map out how your show will generally flow.

Here's how one of my latest podcasts is formatted:

Intro: This is prerecorded with some music and tells what the show is called, what it's about, and then introduces the host (me!).

Welcome and Teaser: A little bit of chit-chat from the host, and then a teaser about what topics will be covered in this episode of the podcast.

Current News: A look at the leading news and rumors from the past week including some editorial comments if needed.

Sponsor: If there's a paid sponsor of the show it's mentioned here, otherwise the sponsor position is used to promote a product as an affiliate.

Main Content: This is the "meat and potatoes" of the podcast and will vary depending on your podcast topic.

Online Resource: Tell about a resource online that's related to the main content and that the listeners will find useful or interesting.

Feedback: Answer questions from listeners and solicit feedback using email, recorded comment line, etc.

Outro: Usually prerecorded with some music, this is the final goodbye for this episode.

Every week I create a podcast using those segments. One big advantage for me, the podcast creator, is that I don't have to come up with something new each time -- I already have the format, all I have to do is fill in the blanks with the new content.

Some people don't like the idea of a static format for a podcast -- they feel it conflicts with the idea of a podcast being "by the people, for the people." But a podcast can still be personal while being formatted -- and if you take a look at the top podcasts, almost all of them use a fairly steady format.

The other type of podcast format you need to decide upon is the style you'll use. For example, you could be very casual, or strictly business-like. Or somewhere in between.

Unless you know your audience extremely well, I'd suggest against sounding like you're all business. That's not to say you can't use a podcast for business -- you can! It just means that a podcast, like any other method of communication with your prospects or customers, can be used to build relationships. Being more personable will go a long way towards building that relationship.

You'll also need to decide whether to fly solo or podcast with a partner. When you're podcasting by yourself it's much easier to make decisions -- you don't have to bounce ideas of anyone first. You can also record your podcast when it's most convenient for you - no juggling schedules with someone else.

However, it's usually much easier to create many episodes of a podcast when there are at least two people. And many listeners think a team approach is less boring than a monologue can be.

The decisions on how to format your podcast are, of course, up to you. The good news is that there are no wrong answers. Ultimately it's your podcast and you can make it the way you want -- and if you want to try different formats to see which feel best, you can do that, too.

Just don't let the decisions hold you back -- it's better to get started and do some tweaking as you go than to never get your podcast launched because you're overwhelmed with decisions.