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

ReadyTalk is located just a quarter mile from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which has been an interesting experience. From a marketing point-of-view, it has supplied some great web conferencing campaign opportunities. We offered Denver businesses free web conferencing and audio conferencing so they could telecommute while the DNC kept them out of their offices. There were also over 15,000 journalists in town that covered the event. We joked about running through downtown holding a large ReadyTalk Web Conferencing banner to get on television. Our joke was actually another company’s plan.

While out on the 16^th Street Mall, I saw some of the following:

• People carrying signs directing and leading crowds to a restaurant
• Companies handing out free t-shirts with political campaigns on the front and their logo on the back
• A donkey and elephant riding around on Segways advertising a news station

These are not the tactics that they taught when I went to marketing school. Word-of-mouth buzz and grassroots campaigning are the latest craze and we saw that out in full force during the DNC. Combine it with technology (blogs, social media sites, email blasts) and you have campaigns that maximize return on investment because of the relatively low cost of these mediums.

It was exciting to see social media tactics on display all over our city this week. It further solidifies the relevancy and efficacy of these tactics.

5000 people received letters of service termination from a national wireless carrier recently. The reason: They called into customer service 25 or more times in a month.

Would you fire customers if you could? Who would you fire? What do you think of this action? I would love to hear your responses.