This post was contributed by Taylor Britt, one of ReadyTalk’s awesome summer interns. Find out what being a ReadyTalk intern is all about.

Well, my summer internship in the marketing department at ReadyTalk is winding down, and I thought I would share a few thoughts on my experiences before I leave to start school.

Unfortunately, I feel like I will never appreciate my job in the future because I’ve been so spoiled by my time here. No dress code, flexible schedules, runs at lunchtime, a kitchen with a drawer filled with chocolate… I won’t be holding out for this anywhere else. However, besides giving me unrealistically high expectations, this company’s culture has made me an admirer of its management. The company thrives off of relationships with its customers, and I think this is only really possible at a company where its employees are authentically happy to be there. I know this sounds like a marketing gimmick, but I’m absolutely sincere, and I think that it’s great that they’ve found a niche where they can take advantage of a win-win situation like this.

I got to work on a bunch of different types of projects this summer and I think I worked on something with everyone in the department, which was cool because I got to see a wide variety of different roles people play in marketing. I doubt I can remember everything I did, but some things are: Updating ReadyTalk’s Wiki, cleaning up trash in a park in downtown Denver, researching the healthcare market, analyzing demographics on webinar attendees, doing competitive analysis on webinar series, rebranding PowerPoint slides for a company that resells our product, packing in random order 5000 coffee sleeves, folding boxes and sending out packages full of ReadyTalk swag, helping analyze ReadyTalk’s compliance with government contracts, updating ReadyTalk’s marketing collateral (Whitepapers, testimonials, and case studies), and setting up a YouTube channel for ReadyTalk.

I also got to help out on ReadyTalk’s new recruitment video (see it on YouTube) although most of the credit for that project ought to go to my fellow intern Kelly King. Never once did I make anyone coffee, which makes me worry that I may have missed out on the “full internship experience.” We also got to spend one afternoon at a Rockies game (the stadium is only a few blocks from our office.)

I think my biggest regret about my summer is that I never brought my dog to work. I would have had to drive down here instead of taking the bus, and he would have gone completely insane all day, but so many people do it here that it seems kind of shameful that I never once brought him in.

While I probably won’t miss the bus ride to work, the building that ReadyTalk’s office is in is really cool. Although it’s probably not actually this old, the worn brick walls and weird metal pipes and rivets on the walls make me think of 19th century prospectors or something like that. There’s also a really nice bookstore downstairs. The main downside of the building that the elevator frequently breaks down and traps people or the elevator door almost crushes someone, but fortunately I managed to evade this over the course of the summer. By this metric, as well as all of the interesting stuff I did and great people I got to work with, this summer was a success and I really appreciate having had the opportunity to work here.

Thanks to Taylor for all his hard work this summer. We wish him the best of luck at the University of Colorado and will let him bring his dog by the office any time.

ReadyTalk interns hard at work.

To tell you the truth, I’m getting pretty full of these podcasting “Ps.” Luckily, there are only a couple left, so I’ll finish them up so I can move on to something else like – oh, I don’t know – carrots?

Once you’ve started producing your podcasts, you’ll need to “Publish” them so they’re available for listening. Publishing consists of three main steps:

1. Host: Your podcasts need to be available for downloading via the Internet. You can either host them on your own website or use a podcast hosting service.
2. Feed: Set up an RSS feed so that everyone who subscribes to your feed will automatically receive new podcasts as you make them available. The easiest way to set up a feed is through a service provider.
3. Read: Your listeners will need a podcast reader (iTunes, for example) to subscribe to your feed and download the podcasts. They’ll also need a media player (RealPlayer or an iPod, for example) to listen to the podcasts.

Of course, publishing your podcasts doesn’t do any good unless your audience knows about them. “Promote” your podcasts by advertising them through your company’s website, blog, emails, department meetings, client meetings, direct mailers, etc. Explain what the podcasts are about and how your audience will benefit from them. Many potential listeners may be new to podcasting, so give them instructions for subscribing and listening to your podcasts.

To keep your audience listening, you need to continually “Perfect” your podcasts. The best way is to talk to your audience and get their feedback. First, you’ll need to find out who’s listening. Track downloads of your podcasts for statistics on traffic and subscriptions. Use the same communication channels for promoting your podcasts to solicit feedback on who’s listening. Once you know who’s listening, ask them what they like and don’t like about your podcasts and get their ideas for making them better. Encourage a conversation among your audience by setting up a blog or online forum to facilitate a dialog around your podcasts. You may get more out of it than just ideas for making your podcasts better.

In this series of blogs, I’ve covered 8 “Ps” in podcasting: the Popularity, Pros, and Possibilities of podcasting and ideas for Planning, Producing, Publishing, Promoting, and Perfecting your podcasts. The final “Point” (sorry, I couldn’t resist one last “P”) is that ReadyTalk provides a turnkey podcasting solution with everything you need to create and publish your podcasts. It’s easy to use and comes standard with every ReadyTalk account – the perfect solution for beginners.

So give podcasting a try. It’ll be good for you.

Technorati Tags: B2B, Customer Service, Human Resource, Marketing, Podcasting, Public Relations, Sales, Social Media

In previous blogs, I’ve been discussing the “Ps” in podcasting. The first “P” was the “Popularity” of podcasting, The second “P” was the “Pros” for companies to podcast. The third “P” of the peas in a pod metaphor I’m hacking to death here is the “Possibilities” for business podcasts. It isn’t exactly enough for a meal yet, but hey, I’m getting there.

You can blog about anything or nothing, and many people do. The same is true for podcasting. But if you want people to actually listen to your podcasts, you need to make sure they provide useful information or are entertaining to your audience – preferably both. That’s not always possible, of course. Podcasting your earnings reports isn’t going get too many yuks from the financial community (at least we hope not), but they’ll find them useful.

One way to come up with podcasting ideas is to analyze all the types of communications you use inside your company and with your customers. Some of these may be suitable for podcasting, or even be more effectively delivered as podcasts. This exercise may also generate some completely new ideas for communication that are uniquely suited for podcasting. Here are some possibilities to get you thinking:

Corporate:

• Financial updates such as quarterly earnings reports
• Business news such as company announcements, industry news and trends
• Internal company announcements, newsletters
• Management fireside chats

Sales and Marketing:

• Product news, such as new features and release schedules
• Product promotions and discounts
• Account management status and updates for customers and clients
• Interviews with industry experts
• Whitepapers
• Research paper summaries

Human Resoures:

• HR training courses
• HR initiative announcements
• Policies and procedures
• Management tips and best practices
• Employee commentaries

Customer Support:

• Product usage tips and best practices
• Problem reports, status and workarounds
• Product training

Another way to come up with business podcasting ideas is to go to iTunes and listen to some business podcasts. And talk to other companies to find out what they’re podcasting. You’ll have a bowlful of possibilities before you know it.

Are you doing business podcasting? I’d love to hear what you’re podcasting and how it’s going.

Technorati Tags: B2B, Customer Service, Human Resource, Marketing, Podcasting, Podcasts, Public Relations, Sales, Social Media

It probably wasn’t appropriate for me to do this, but I weaseled my way into ReadyTalk’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament office pool. After all, I don’t actually work for ReadyTalk, so I might be raising some hackles by horning in on their party. Plus, I run the risk of getting into trouble if the company gets busted for running an office pool.* But I was desperate – March Madness is the only thing that gives my life meaning this time of year.

In my opinion, office pools say a lot about a company. None of the companies where I’ve worked ever had office pools. I don’t work for any of those companies anymore. Coincidence? I think not.

On the other hand, I used to work for myself in an office next to a small insurance agency. They have an NCAA tournament pool every year and an open invitation to join. They bring a TV into the office to show the games throughout the tournament, and anyone can drop by to watch them. I joined their pool several years. The thing I noticed is that the same people work in the office year after year. It might not be just because of the annual NCAA pool, but I think it’s indicative of a fun-loving culture that retains employees and most likely, customers as well.

So it says a lot about ReadyTalk that they have an NCAA tournament pool going with a very high participation rate including the CEO himself, here just a couple of weeks before a big new product release. I don’t know if they have a TV in the office, but you can bet management isn’t blocking the streaming video. With the combined rush of a product release and NCAA tournament going on at the same time, ReadyTalk will be a fun place to be for the next few weeks.

I’ll admit, I feel a little guilty being in their pool. If I win, maybe I’ll use the money to fly out to Denver to visit ReadyTalk and get to know some of the people I gypped out of the winnings.

* I checked this out. Fortunately, Colorado and California (where I live) both allow social gambling. So no pick-up games in prison for me.

Technorati Tags: NCAA Basketball, March Madness, Employees, Human Resources, Recreation

ReadyTalk won the 2007 Colorado Biz Magazine Best Place to Work contest for small to medium sized companies.

For the second year, ColoradoBiz has joined with the Colorado State Council of the Society of Human Resource Management and Jobing.com, an online employment advertising service, to produce a list of the best companies to work for in the state.

You can read the entire article here. I have been working at ReadyTalk for nearly three years now and it has been a pleasure the whole time. I will leave you with a quote from our CEO Dan King taken from the article which I think sums up our success nicely.

“It’s important for us to have a good understanding of the culture we want and hire around it and have continuity over time.”

Technorati Tags: Coloradobiz, ReadyTalk, Best Places To Work, COSHRM