How To Create Effective Podcasts
To Engage Your Audiences
Neville Hobson, ABC

“How-To” in The Next 75 Minutes
1. Start your own podcast and make it a
success
2. Build a community of listeners or viewers
and promote your podcast
3. Use podcasts to support your business
strategy
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What is a Podcast?
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What is a Podcast?
• Digital audio Optional:
file, typically MP3 • Auto-sync with
• “Radio show” format portable digital player
– Time-shifted: listen – Detach and go: listen
when you want where you want
• Delivered via RSS • Complemented by
show notes
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Podcasting Growth Drivers
1. It‟s easy
2. It‟s inexpensive
3. It‟s portable
4. It‟s available
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Who Listens to Podcasts?
• Majority of top-rated
podcasts come from
recognizable media entities
that are using podcasts to
expand their existing radio,
TV, cable or satellite
audiences
• The US podcast audience is
ballooning
– By 2013, there will be 37.6
million people who download
podcasts monthly, more than
double the 2008 figure of
17.4 million
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Who Listens to Podcasts?
“The demographic patterns of the podcast
audience, like those of the online video
audience, are highly dependent on the
nature of the content.”
Podcasting: Into the Mainstream
eMarketer, March 2009
www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1006937
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It‟s All About The Content
• The barriers to entry are incredibly low
– All you need is a computer, a microphone, some
free software and imagination
• Your audience can number in the single digits
– Unlike radio, you don‟t need big numbers to be
successful
• Whatever you do, it‟s all about the content
and your passion
– Actually, it‟s all about your listeners
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Podcasting‟s Advantages
• Audience can listen while they do something else
• Deliver specialized content to a niche audience
they can‟t get anywhere else
• Convey information that‟s best conveyed through
audio
• Build a loyal community of listeners
• Use the podcast as a means of soliciting feedback
• Use a podcast as an alternate channel to reinforce
communication via other channels
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Why Not to Podcast
• Your message does not lend itself to audio
(or video)
• Your audience is not inclined to listen
• Your message requires focus
• Your boss/client says “Hey, let‟s do a
podcast!”
– there must be a measurable (strategic)
business reason
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Why Podcast?
• Easy and complementary extension of your
existing PR and marketing activities
• Connect with customers, employees and
other groups in new and interesting ways
• Reach niche audiences otherwise
(financially) unreachable
• Be perceived to be at the leading edge
• Be seen as a thought leader
• …
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Elements of Successful Podcasting
• Relevance • Don‟t sell
• Keep to the point • Be authentic
• Avoid fluff • Respect listeners‟
• Info-tain time
• Build and engage • Integrate into
community blogosphere
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Who‟s Podcasting for Business?
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Strategizing a Business Podcast
• Communication is strategic when:
– It is planned as a means of addressing core
business issues
– Its impact on the business can be measured
A simple 4-step plan...
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Step 1: Goal
• Our example goal:
– Stem the defection of long-time customers to
a competitive brand
(“Produce a podcast” is not a goal)
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Step 2: Strategy
• Strategy = Plan of action to achieve a goal
• Our strategy:
– Influence customer perceptions favourably to
our brand
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Step 3: Objectives
• Objectives = Measurable activities as elements of
strategy (Step 2)
• Our objectives:
– Help customers feel like they are privileged insiders
by providing a unique window into the brand
– Create a bond between customers and the people
behind the brand
– Give customers more of a say in the development of
future brand extensions and marketing programmes
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Step 4: Tactics
• Tactics = Communication channels and tools
• Based on objectives (Step 3), we might
consider a variety of tactics, eg:
– Customer advisory panel
– Brand-focused blog
– Podcast
• The tactics we decide on will be what we
conclude to be the most effective for the job
and where the results can be measured
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Building Community
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Building Community
• Members of a community share a common
bond that increases a sense of loyalty to a
show
• Building community increases listener
loyalty, is a catalyst for content and helps
spread the word to increase your audience
• Tap into the social networking potential
presented by a podcast
• Host your podcast on a blog
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The Hobson and Holtz Report
• First episode on January 3, 2005
• Co-hosts: Neville Hobson, ABC (UK) and
Shel Holtz, ABC (USA)
• 60 mins, twice weekly, Monday and
Thursday, recorded via Skype
• Average per-podcast downloads: 1,3001
• Global audience2 Primary:
USA, UK, Canada, Australia, continental
Europe
• Building community: 2 on-the-ground regular
1. Libsyn aggregate metrics averaged for all FIR podcast
2.
downloads, retrieved May 4, 2009.
FIR Listener Survey, April 2009.
correspondents; 2 occasional contributors;
listener comments; Friendfeed Room
• Two sponsors: Lawrence Ragan
Communications and CustomScoop
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Building Community
• Involve listeners
• Encourage listeners
• Address their needs
• Engage
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Measuring ROI
• What are you actually measuring?
– Much depends on your goal
• Put the question in the context of other
communication tools
– How do you measure the ROI of an employee
newsletter?
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Measuring ROI
Not so difficult: Not so easy:
 How many listeners?  Financial return
 First time, repeats?  The value of a relationship
 How many subscribers to  And how are we defining
the RSS feed? „relationship‟?
 How many citations by
others?
 How many comments to
episodes?
 And does the podcaster
comment on other podcasts?
 Anecdotal commentary on
what people think
 …
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Desired Outcomes
• Reinforce brand loyalty
• Deliver targeted messages
• Heighten awareness of brand
• Create user-driven community
• Educate to build brand affinity
• …
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Producing Your Own Podcast
• Basic gear: Less than
– USB microphone/headset $100
– Free recording/editing software
• Audacity for Windows/Mac/Linux
• Intermediate gear: $1,000 to
– Cardioid or condenser microphone $5,000
– Headphones
– Mixer
– Portable audio recorder
– Higher-end software
• eg, Adobe Audition (Windows), GarageBand (Macintosh)
• High-end gear: $6,000
– + digital mixers, compressors, pre-amps… and up
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Producing Your Own Podcast
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Producing Your Own Podcast
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Promoting Your Podcast
• #1: Get listed in iTunes
• Get listed in key directories
– Eg: Podcast Alley, Blubrry Network
• Get some influencer recommendations
• Network in the podcasting community
• Create podcast badges
• Record podcast promos
• Pimp for votes
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Reference
• Some of this material
is based on content in
this book
• Available from good
booksellers and
online (eg, Amazon)
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Other Reference
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Who‟s Podcasting? 5 of The Best
FIR listeners recommend:
• Inside PR with Terry Fallis and David Jones
(Canada)
• Marketing Over Coffee with John Wall and
Christopher S. Penn (USA)
• Six Pixels of Separation with Mitch Joel
(Canada)
• Managing the Gray with C.C. Chapman
(USA)
• Donna Papacosta‟s Trafcom News (Canada)
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Details: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
www.nevillehobson.com
www.forimmediaterelease.biz
June 7, 2009
S2 / Podcasting / Neville Hobson, ABC