Live From The Marketing Den: Podcasting Ads For Internet Marketing

The world of Web 2.0 has allowed anyone with a computer and Internet connection to reach out, make friends, and have his or her voice heard in the digital arena. Thanks to the power of blogs and online groups and forums, many more people have a voice, and can share their views without much effort. The world of Web 2.0 has also attracted people even more to the Internet, so that it is not difficult to reach out to more people – simply because the market is now closer to the marketing machinery than it every was.

Internet marketing can be carried out in many different ways. Internet marketing articles, if well-written and formatted, can be both informative for people doing their research online, and can be used as means to get the word out on a new product or service that can be important to a certain sector of the population. Affiliate programs can allow webmaster to post advertisements on their sites, as well as to earn commissions should visitors click on these advertisements. Advertisements are posted everywhere in the digital world, so that websites have not only turned into information superhighways, they have become real world superhighways with their own mile-high billboards.

All these advertisements also tend to make the World Wide Web a much cluttered place. With advertisements posted on every corner of a website, there seem to be a hundred screaming voices at once, all of them making the same bids and offering the same products and services. Wouldn’t it be great to get away from the graphics and get a new marketing voice online?

One such alternative method is podcasting, where you can record your voice for download and playback later by your clients and website visitors. Podcasts can be listened to by streaming methods, straight from your website; or they can be downloaded to a personal music player and listened to while a person is offline. There are many ways by which you can use podcasts to suit your marketing needs, and they need not necessarily be about literally screaming about your products and services.

If you have the machinery and technology to do it, you can record your own podcast featuring somebody who has availed of your product and service, and who wants to talk about it. You may need to look for customers who have well-modulated voices, rich resumes and reputations, and convincing tones, to boot. The testimony, however, should not be the heart of a podcast: the online audience is especially sensitive to hard-selling methods or overenthusiastic marketing, so you need to find other ways to incorporate such testimonies into your marketing podcast.

First, you may need an authority figure to give tips on an aspect of your field of choice. For instance, if your company produces glass aquariums, you can feature ways by which you can take better care of tropical fish, before you segue into customers’ reactions to your special glass aquariums. If you produce pet food, you can feature ways by which you can give your dog or cat better nutrition, before you move on to customers’ testimonies about how their dogs or cats fared better with your brand of pet food.

Second, you need to format your podcast so that it will take no more than two to three minutes of your customers’ time. The shorter your podcast, the faster your customers can download it, and the faster your message can get through. The tone of your podcast can also affect your marketing: make the tone upbeat, and your language simple but exciting. Avoid being too eager about your product or service, but make sure that you highlight its strengths. Inject humor as much as you can without distracting from the main point of your podcast. The more upbeat your podcast is, the easier it will be for people to appreciate your marketing efforts.

Lastly, make your podcasts regular. If you can, make new podcasts available every two weeks; you can turn your site into an informative radio or podcast station, and thus attract customers regularly. Updating your podcasts shows that you are constantly surveying your market and watching out for its needs.

Podcasting can be a lucrative Internet marketing method. Good podcasts should be informative without sounding arrogant, and market your product or service without annoying your prospective customers. With good technology and content, a marketing podcast can attract people and make your voice heard at the same time.