Seven,reasons,your,company,sho DIY Seven reasons your company should podcast

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

If you’re still not sure what a podcast is don’t feel bad.You are one of millions of intelligent, informed people who are missing thispiece of the New Media puzzle Having excused you, now permit me to chastise you. Allbusinesspeople should know what a podcast is, especially considering there aretens of thousands of them and their legions of listeners are growing.Podcasting can also be very beneficial to your company or you as a businessprofessional. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, a few basics. Podcasts are audio files, mostly composed of people talkingand often including music and sound effects. They can be downloaded andlistened to on a computer, or transferred to your iPod (hence the “pod”-castname) or other MP3 player. The vast majority of podcasts are free of chargethrough iTunes,Podcast Alley and other outlets. To give you some idea, I subscribe to more than a dozenpodcasts that range from audio versions of TV programs such as Meet thePress and Facethe Nation, to National Public Radio interviewprograms Fresh Airand TheDiane Rehm Show, to academic and business programming like theHarvard Business IdeaCast, the McKinsey Quarterly Podcastsand news summaries from The Economist magazine. It’s great stuff. Podcasts are convenient because they can be listened towhile driving, pumping iron at the gym, hiking, zipping to the office on thetrain, sitting on your sofa or dozing in bed at night (one of my favorite waysto enter the Land of Nod). That’s one of the big advantages audio podcasts have overvideo – they require one rather than two senses, meaning they don’t require yourundivided attention. You can listen to audio while participating in any numberof activities. It’s probably not a good idea to watch a video while you’re ridinga horse or trying to stay balanced on a treadmill. All one need do is check out some of the organizations thatpodcast to realize its value and implications. There’s the legendary consultingfirm of McKinsey & Co, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopersand academic icon HarvardBusinessSchool.Why do these organizations podcast? Here are just seven good reasons. Display expertise. When McKinsey &Co. conducted its annual global survey of business spending on Web 2.0technologies, it not only released a written report, it produced a podcastconsisting of an interview with one of the research report’s authors. Anotherexample is a podcast titled Connectingclimate change and economic recovery , featuring an interview with economist NicholasStern. Display leadership. HarvardBusinessSchoolhas used its IdeaCast totackle subjects that have included: Useright incentives for Gen Y, Gen XWinningin a turbulent economyRedesigninghealth careWhenhigh performers struggleIsexecutive pay broken?The5 leadership essentialsBeinga good boss in a bad economy Educate. The Britain-based podcast TheNaked Scientists uses British humor and interesting topics toteach people about scientific and technological breakthroughs. Some recentsubjects were: Wheredo lost socks go?Thediseased brainHighaltitude adventuresWhydoes water expand when it freezes?Catchingup with cancer researchBuildingbodies and mending broken heartsCanyou run faster on the moon? Provide value. GrammarGirl and her brief 10-minute podcasts have become widelypopular in part because of publicity she has received in magazines such as BusinessWeek. But she has sustained that audience by giving themvaluable information pertaining to the proper use of grammar. Who doesn’t wantto sound like they didn’t fall asleep in English class? People who don’t wantto sound like they speak English as a second language. And there are lots ofthose. Brand your company. If you’re BritishPetroleum and you’re trying to position yourself as aforward-thinking company, wouldn’t producing podcasts about clean andsustainable forms of energy help immensely to burnish your image as a companyoperating in future tense? Brand yourself. If you’re the brilliantmanagement consultant or life coach you claim to be, prove it with a weekly ormonthly podcast with a snappy title. Consider how much credence would be lentto your reputation by podcasts that offer terrific advice and success storiesabout your own clients? Connect with key players. Imagine you’rea regional bank that wants to reach out to key players in your market. Ratherthan your standard sales letter or cold call, what if you invited your target tobe featured on the bank’s CEO Spotlight podcast? Now the CEOcan share his or her wisdom and is likely to be flattered by the invitation.You get a face-to-face interview out of the deal and the start of a personalrelationship that could be parlayed into a client relationship, if you playyour cards right. The caveat, of course, is that no one will be interested insubscribing to your podcast unless you provide interesting and educationalcontent. So don’t make the mistake of using it strictly as a relationshipbuilding tool.