Top Five Reasons Podcast Content Marketing is Misunderstood

I often wonder why podcast content marketing isn’t more popular than it is. I admit I’m biased since I’m a podcaster. But, I’m also an avid podcast consumer. I was a consumer of podcast content long before I became a podcast content producer. Now, I listen to podcasts in my car more than I listen to the radio or CDs. My iPod is filled with podcasts, rather than music.  iTunes makes it easy for anyone to find and consume content in podcast format.

The Three E’s
In my book, Marketing 2.0, I encourage marketers to produce content that delivers on the three E’s: educate, enlighten, entertain. Podcast content is a terrific medium to deliver on any of the three E’s. But, why isn’t podcast content more popular?

I offer five reasons why podcast content isn’t more popular.

Podcasts Are Not Indexed by Search Engines
Unlike Facebook fan pages and conventional web and blog pages, a podcast is not indexable by search engines. Podcasts are audio files uploaded into a subscribable format such as iTunes or another podcast directory such as Podcast Pickle. You can also subscribe to podcasts from a blog with a link to iTunes. But, to get the most current podcast you must either visit iTunes to synch or visit the producer’s blog to listen to current podcasts.

iTunes is Big But It’s Not YouTube
Apple may enjoy more market share than Google with the iPhone over the Google Nexus One, but when it comes to video content, Google’s YouTube rules. While video podcasts are available, most podcasts are audio. Let’s face it, audio is just not as popular as video. And, with the iPad here, delivering an even more rich media experience, video will remain more popular than audio as the netbook market continues to grow.

Podcasts Are Not Understood by the Masses
I’ve often heard marketers refer to their audio file on their website as a podcast. A podcast is only a podcast when you can subscribe to it and get updates through a feed. The lack of understanding of a podcast as a content delivery medium combined with the high popularity of video contributes to low popularity of podcasts.

Inconsistent Quality of Podcasts
Let’s be honest, some podcast content producers just don’t produce quality audio. I’ve often downloaded podcasts based on the title and description only to listen to just a few minutes before ditching it due to poor audio quality. Worse yet, the audio quality is good but the personalities on the show babble for 10 minutes before getting to the point. Good podcasts get to the content quickly and engage their listeners, creating a loyal audience.

Lack of Consistent Content from Producers
If you want to listen to podcasts on marketing, you have plenty of choices among content producers with a track record. But, there is a high rate of abandonment among podcast producers, due at least in part to the lack of monetization opportunities around most podcast content. Therefore, many podcast shows start and end often within a few weeks or months. Podcast content producers should adopt a content marketing mindset, only starting a podcast series when they can commit to longevity.

The Bright Side of Podcasting
If this blog post was about the good, the bad and the ugly of podcasting, the five reasons above address the bad and ugly. Now, let’s get to the good because there is plenty of good in podcasting.  First, there are in fact many terrific podcast shows produced by terrific peeps. Below I offer you a list of some of my favorite podcasts. Admittedly, these podcasts are all about marketing. If you have other favorites, please add yours to this list in the comments section below.

Find and Convert Podcast
This is my podcast. It’s my favorite because I thoroughly enjoy producing it. I interview ordinary marketers doing extraordinary marketing. I produce two or more podcasts per month, each providing an interview with a guest that has valuable experiences and insights to share about their marketing strategy. My guests are regular marketers just like my listeners. My audience can relate to these guests and gain inspiration from their stories. I deliver mostly on the first 2 of the 3 E’s. On occasion, there may be some light entertainment.

DishyMix
The DishyMix podcast is hosted by podcasting extraordinaire Susan Bratton. Susan interviews digital marketing executives, many of whom are authors, CEOs and entrepreneurs. Susan’s interview style is one of the best. She really does her homework with each guest, and consequently brings out his or her best. Susan Bratton is CEO of podcast empire PersonalLifeMedia, a portal of podcasts ranging across all topics ranging from art, health, news, politics, marketing and many others.  Susan delivers on all three E’s with DishyMix. I am the self appointed #1 fan of DishyMix.

HubSpot TV
HubSpot TV is a weekly video podcast that airs live on Friday’s at 4pm. People tune in live to watch HubSpot.TV every Friday, or download it from iTunes and time shift it as I do. Their format is comprised of hosts Mike Volpe and Karen Rubin running through inbound marketing news from the week, offering tips, advice and their own, sometimes controversial commentary. Their personalities are so different, it makes for an interesting chemistry. Mike and Karen usually have a guest on their show to discuss the guest’s claim to marketing fame. HubSpot TV delivers on all three E’s with a heavy dose of entertainment mostly through Karen’s off the wall humor.

Marketing Over Coffee
Christopher Penn and John Wall record a weekly podcast from a Dunkin Donuts in the Boston area. They cover current news in marketing with a bit of a technical twist. They often provide tips on how to fine tune various aspects of your permission based email or social media plans. I always learn something from Penn and Wall. Therefore, I find their content to deliver on first two of the three E’s.

Six Pixels of Separation
Mitch Joel, CEO of digital media agency TwistImage, author of the book Six Pixels of Separation, and frequent speaker hosts this weekly podcast which comes in two flavors. He usually interviews interesting people in marketing with great conversation around contemporary marketing topics such as the future of  newspapers in a digital society. His conversational tone is always pleasant and interesting.  His other podcast is called Media Hacks and features a group of social media mavens who banter about anything. The unscripted conversation is always colorful and usually interesting. Both of these podcasts deliver on the first of the two E’s.

Podcast Show Notes
When a podcast is linked to a blog post, the show notes can provide a written summary to readers and provide search engine results on the topic of the podcast. I write a blog post for each of my podcasts in part to broaden the exposure of my podcast. But, I also recognize that I may get readers of the blog post who won’t listen to the podcast, and vice versa. So, writing a blog post is an effective way to straddle both lines of blogging and podcasting. The show notes also create SEO value for the podcast content because the post will be indexed in search engines.

Podcasting has been around for less than a decade. It’s been trumped by video in popularity. But, consumers who want to get smarter on a topic of interest should search out podcasts starting with iTunes and subscribe to them. Marketers looking for another content channel should consider producing a podcast series.  If you’re a marketer that has never produced a podcast series, you may want to consider it. But, consider your ability to commit to a show with regular frequency. Even it your frequency is only monthly, as your audience grows they will expect your monthly show. You won’t want to disappoint them once you’ve developed an audience.

I invite you to visit my podcast page. You’ll find my podcast interviews to be about ordinary marketers doing extraordinary marketing across a range of topics including B2B marketing, SEO, social networking, inbound marketing, experiential marketing, small business marketing, measuring results, success stories and others.

If you have favorite podcasts to add to my list, please add them in the comments below.

Podcasting Tips From Master Host Susan Bratton

Podcast Interview with Susan Bratton, CEO of Personal Life Media.

As a podcaster, I have long been a fan of a handful of other podcasts that cover the topics that I cover, namely web marketing, new media, online marketing, and all related topics. One of my favorite podcasts is produced by Susan Bratton, called DishyMix, a podcast show where Susan interviews interesting and accomplished guests in and around marketing, advertising and new media. So, I invited Susan to be interviewed for my podcast and she graciously accepted…Boy was it fun!

Susan has many attributes I enjoy and I will share them with you in this blog post. But, you should listen to the entire podcast to learn how Susan is making an impact in our economy and how you can too by following her tips. No matter your industry, Susan’s advice can be applied with measurable results.

Susan is the co- founder and CEO of Personal Life Media, a media publishing company for people on the leading edge of culture. Susan is a Silicon Valley exec who knows everybody in new media, advertising and anything marketing. Susan is widely adored and recognized as a “super connector” among interesting and influential people in the web 2.0 and new media world.

PLM is about helping people change their lives. Susan calls it edutainment. Each one of Susan’s DishyMix podcasts make me a little smarter.  She interviews fabulously interesting people. In each of her interviews she seeks to bring her audience “brain science,” personal growth and leadership examples. She brings her guest’s deep expertise to her audience while also about allowing you to get to know each of them as a human being. This combination of professional expertise and human interest makes DishyMix a very engaging podcast show!

From 16 to 40 and Counting

Susan launched Personal Life Media with 16 shows. Now PLM is comprised of 40 shows and growing. Susan recognized that podcasting is a communication platform that allows anyone who views herself as a publisher of content (an individual or a business), to do just that. Publishers have always produced a profit through paid sponsors, paid advertisers and paid subscribers. That’s exactly how Personal Life Media exists in our eco system. Susan has transferred this economic model to the podcasting medium with success that isn’t slowing down.

In addition to the 40 shows PLM is launching a new category called “online information products.” These will comprise ebooks that offer their target audience multiple benefits through a combination of audio lessons, video lessons and text based content. PLM has 15 information products in the hopper!

Podcasting as a Business

In December 2008 Lee Odden created a list of the top podcasts. DishyMix came in first in social media podcasts and my Find and Convert podcast came in third in the fan voting (Susan referred to it as a bake-off).

Susan is quick to point out that podcasting is a medium for marketers to get their message out to a target audience. Susan’s advice to businesses is to consider podcasting when one or more people in their business are comfortable in front a microphone and/or camera and a commitment can be made to producing regular podcast shows. Most businesses have plenty of content which can be re-purposed into a podcast. Interviewing interesting guests is a common approach in any industry. While monetizing podcasts can be achieved through advertising, sponsorships and a subscription model, most often a business can monetize their podcasts by using it as an effective way to communicate to their customers and surrounding community. In short, podcasting is an effective medium to build relationships with your customers and differentiate your business.

Susan’s advice on business podcasting includes the suggestion that a podcast can be better than a blog if the podcaster is one who doesn’t like to write but likes to speak. “You must love it. If you like to talk rather than write and you can sustainably do it, it’s a great communication medium,” says Susan.

Any business can tap into an existing or new audience through iTunes, which is a free distribution channel for podcasts. Businesses who create a podcast show are using new media as a corporate communications vehicle.

Talk Show Tips: 72 Secrets “Master Host” Techniques

Susan’s new e-book was inspired by her rapid success in podcasting. She humbly realized that her success qualifies her as a “master host” and she set out to create a package of information sharing tips. And boy did she ever! Talk Show Tips is packed with audio, video and text based tips that will make any podcaster, no matter how experienced, a more effective show host.

Talk show Tips provides podcast show hosts practical ways to organize a show. It offers awesome preparation tips for each interview so that your guest sees how prepared you are for the interview with killer questions and background. It also offers communication guidelines with your guest so they feel prepared for your interview. The ebook also shows how to conduct and promote a flawless podcast interview.

I suggested that Susan come back on my show in the future after I have finished consuming all the content in Talk Show Tips. I was truly blown away by all the content in her ebook but I didn’t finish it in time for this interview. She agreed to come back to see the difference (before and after)…

Measuring Results

I asked Susan how she measures results for all PLM shows, including DishyMix. Susan uses a service from VoloMedia. This service measures how many people have downloaded a show with ads in it. It measures completed downloads, not just clicks on a podcast file. Their numbers are reliable allowing her to measure the penetration of her shows.  Volomedia allows Susan to say that there are about 1 million downloads per month of her 40 shows on Personal Life Media. Of course, the ultimate measurement is the revenue she produces through her advertisers and soon from subscription sales and online information products.

Memorable Show Guests on DishyMix

I asked Susan to name some memorable guests from her DishyMix show. That’s a tough question with sooooo many fabulous guests. But, here is a short list she mentioned:  Sir Ken Robinson, author of The Element; Dacher Keltner, author of The Science of a Meaningful Life; Linda Resnik, author of a new book, “Rubies in the Orchard: How to Uncover Hidden Gems in Your Business” is half marketing genius and half auto-biography of an amazing billionaires.  Other notable guests include Steve Wosniak, Marcus Buckingham and Bert Decker.

A Memorable Speaking Experience

Susan emceed a conference called Happiness and Its Causes. Susan was a little nervous before the event due to the anxiety from some of the organizers.   A friend advised her to imagine a golden chord extending from her body as a tap root anchored into the earth. She advised Susan to take a deep breath and blow it through the grounding-chord to relieve all the stress. It worked and Susan went on to emcee a very successful event, which is a common occurrence for her.

Susan’s Three Pillars of Social Media Marketing in Business

Listening: The most popular action in social media among businesses. You can learn a lot about your customers, your market, your competitors and your employees by listening.

Appvertising: As Susan explains “Brands who create useful aps or sponsor useful aps for their target consumers are brilliant players at a high-level of sophistication in the social influence marketing sphere.” She cites examples such as ClearSpring, Gigya and RockYou! as well as SocialMedia.com and ContextOptional.

Participation: Facebook fan pages such as the Find and Convert fan page and the DishyMix Fan Club where Susan gives away all kinds of goodies to her listeners (I could learn something from this – huh).  Susan also cites consumer generated content experiences like HP on YouTube described in an interview with Daina Middleton as well corporate Twitter accounts like Personal Life Media’s Twitter account.

Inspiration, Entertainment, Education

My interview with Susan Bratton was inspiring, entertaining and educational. I guess I can say it was edutainment! Susan’s passion and intellect are enjoyable. Her advice is commendable. Her enthusiasm is contagious.

Susan is simply a fun gal with a ton of wisdom and success to share with you and me. I hope you enjoy the podcast. I’d like to hear from you with your comments about this interview including questions for Susan for the next podcast.

Follow Susan Bratton on Twitter.

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