03-29-06
Category: Internet Marketing
Key Points:
- Successful podcasts leverage the interactivity offered through the Internet by encouraging listener feedback through various means.
- Podcasts that fall under the broadcast paradigm tend to become marginalized over time.
- The real marketing potential in podcasts would involve a conversational marketing approach; not conventional broadcast advertising.
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Excerpt - For full article, please visit MediaPost Publications.
To me, podcasting is an odd bird. I feel that way for a number of reasons, but mainly because it's been successful despite its clunky and not-very-intuitive distribution model that has many potential listeners wondering how to get on board. I've predicted in prior columns that the assets we create today for podcasting will eventually be distributed through simpler and more powerful systems, but for now we've got an interesting model, and podcasting thrives despite its complexity.
The other big reason I think podcasting is odd is that, at first glance, it appears to be another one-way medium. That is, I think that most people who work in the media business look at podcasting simply as a niche distribution of radio and television content. In a sea of emerging media that are decidedly interactive, podcasting appears to be a throwback to the broadcast model. But appearances can be deceiving.
Quite a few clients have asked me recently about whether podcasts are appropriate venues for their broadcast commercials. I caution them against this because podcasts are firmly in the interactive camp, and broadcast thinking tends to not get us very far in such media. In fact, although podcasting has a good deal in common with television and radio, the end user expects podcasts to be interactive.
When I look at what many popular podcasts have in common, the really good ones tend to be two-way. That is, the podcast is only the push component of a push-pull mechanism that furthers a dialogue. Typically, a podcaster will use a Web site, e-mail, message board or other interactive element to solicit feedback from listeners and viewers. Those comments factor heavily into the editorial product.
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