Integrate Podcasting Into Your Marketing

Eric Schwartzman, Founder and Chairman of Kara asked about how to integrate podcasting into marketing, pr and corporate communication campaigns.

Eric stated, "I think the overlying message is that podcasting shouldn’t be thought of as a snap-on afterthought. It should be integrated into all aspects of communications."

"You know people are getting information in so many different ways now that unless you can make that information available through various channels – be it RSS, XML, email, the Web, social networking, social bookmarking, news wires, conventional media – you’re going to miss a category of the audience. It’s probably going to be a pretty important category because we’ve left the days when you could just buy an ad on ABC, CBS and NBC and get in front of everybody. You’ve got all these niche audiences congregating in all these different areas so you’ve got to figure out a way to be relevant in all those areas."

"Well, you know, I’m always a little worried when someone asks me that question. How do I get my name out there? That’s sort of how we used to think about things. Let’s get our name “out there”. But with no real thought or consideration given to what getting your name out there will do for you."

Eric continued...

"So I would come back to you and say, well, why do you want to get your name out there? What are you looking to achieve? What specific objectives – that you can measure – are you trying to achieve? And then based on that let’s figure out whether it should be a podcast, whether it should be mainstream media advertising, whether it should be speaking or exhibiting at trade shows or whether it should be direct sales.

Rather than just thinking about getting your name out, new media gives us the opportunity to use media to create a transaction."

The iPressroom Founder also elaborated on how an organization should utilize podcasting.

"The way I like to break it down so that there’s some organization over how to prepare a new media initiative that could be offered and blessed, hopefully, by an executive board is to start with the objectives. What are you trying to achieve? To say, let’s podcast because it’s a cool thing is a mistake. To say, let’s blog because everyone’s doing it is a mistake."

Eric Schwartzman's Specific Steps...

"What’s the benefit? What are you really trying to achieve? ... The first thing to identify is what do you want to do and, you know, if you tell me raise awareness, I’m going to come back at you and say, that’s not really good enough. Why do you want to raise awareness? What would be the result of that awareness if you were effective. Cause if everybody knew about you, and nobody bought your product or service, was the awareness really worthwhile?

What unique ability do you have or is available in your organization that’s not getting out by other means?

What other outreach and external communications are you currently doing? And how can you use that to point back at the podcast? ... There is interruption marketing and there is relationship marketing. So, if your going to interrupt them try to build a relationship with them so that you can stay top-of-mind, become more relevant over time.

This is the one everyone forgets, you’ve gotta benchmark where you were. ... If you don’t measure and benchmark where you were you’ll never know where you went. And so many people fail to do that. It’s like how do you know if you increased your search rank if you don’t know what your search rank was? So benchmark. And then, last but not least, figure out a way to measure the impact of what it is you’re doing on an ongoing basis.

Measure the impact of what it is you’re doing on an ongoing basis. ... How are you going to measure on an ongoing basis so you know whether or not you got where you wanted to go?

Kara asked about where metrics come into play. Eric stated, "Well, in four and five. In four you need to measure where you were and that’s a quantitative measure. I think everyone’s had enough with the qualitative benefits of social media and media marketing. They want numbers."

Eric elaborates...

"So, if you’re going to go to someone with P & L responsibility and say, hey, give me x per cent of the marketing spend for new media, what are you going to give them back to hang their hat on? What numbers are you going to hit for them?

I think all to often we’re not willing to say, here’s what we’re going to do for you. You give us this budget, we’ll give you this many listeners. We’ll sell this much product and you’ll be able to track clicks from the podcast center over to the website where you’re selling product or where you’re collecting leads. We’ll be able to measure your search rank and if you have a Google AdSense program in place, we can look at what you’re spending on that and if we can hit on the organic side of those measures, then we’re adding real value.

So, the numbers come in, one in benchmarking where you were, getting a quantitative number that tells you where you were at before you started the program and then, two, having some sort of way to measure on an ongoing basis."

Mr. Schwartzman also referenced something he heard earlier in the morning at the meeting for the Association for Downloadable Media. An analyst from Edison Research stated ...

"You know, what people want to know, the decision-makers on the marketing side from a quantitative standpoint, they don’t necessarily want to know the number of downloads, that’s not enough. They want to know the depth of engagement. They want to know are you engaging people at a deeper level with podcasting or with online media than you are through print media. And, if so, can that be reflected in the CPM that we charge for that impression?"

... Watch the full video interview here