The Power Of Podcasting: What It Can Do For Your Business

By Barb Paluszkiewicz, CDN Technologies Inc.

There are many ways to build effective business relationships and podcasting is quickly becoming an efficient way to make positive connections with prospective clients because it gives personality to the content being consumed. Audio content is easy listening and mobile, making it stronger than the written word.

Listeners are tuning in when and where they want to, and podcasting is the only online content platform that enables someone to do two things at once. Have you ever tried to read while driving? People can actively listen to a podcast while they’re driving, exercising, or cooking. No screens required.

Who’s Going To Listen To Your Podcast?

Anyone working in the technology industry is no stranger to information overload. To mitigate this a podcast will have three target audiences: the employee, the client, and the prospect. Each podcast should be audience specific.

As a company grows and begins to add employees’ internal communications can become challenging. There are remote employees, contractual employees, road warriors, and sometimes there is even more than one office location.

Traditionally, companies have relied on an intranet, email, sporadic meetings/calls/webinars, newsletters, or an annual event to communicate. Leveraging podcasting as an internal communication tool saves time. Imagine having a regular podcast for employees to inform, inspire, and engage companywide communications. Remember morning announcements in school over the P.A.?

If you feel communicating with employees is like herding cats, remember there are clients to maintain communications with too. Cyber attacks are on the rise. Data breaches are getting bigger and more frequent. As IT professionals it is our responsibility to identify cyber risks for our clients and teach them about their cyber hygiene. Podcasting quick tips about how to protect family, money, and identity from cyber criminals is a value-added service and a win-win. Clients can become the best human firewalls.

Listeners of client-centric podcasts get to learn about you and your company as they continue listening to more episodes. Hearing a speaker’s voice is personal and helps build authority and trust. Listeners can’t help but feel connected to the speaker because they recognize the person on the podcast. It’s a human-to-human connection.

Podcasting for prospects is different from podcasting for employees and clients. These podcasts are available to the general public. They are downloaded from iTunes, Google, Spotify, etc. The content that appeals to this audience is typically educational, full of best practices and relevant news. The goal is to be top of mind when they require your products and/or services. You're essentially promoting yourself as a thought leader, and when you link a prospect to your podcast, it's a tremendous validation. It doesn’t matter how many subscribers or downloads you have; your podcast only needs to exist and be available 24/7 on-demand.

While podcasting for prospects you are building awareness in a less crowded marketing space. There are about 500 000 you tube videos uploaded daily. According to Podcastinsights.com:

• There are only 750,000 active podcasts
• 51 percent of the U.S. population have listened to a podcast, 49 percent of listening is done at home and 22 percent is done in the car
• 80 percent of listeners listen to all or most of each podcast episode
• Podcast listeners are loyal, affluent, and educated

Remember: relationships are based on audio communication. Podcasting is a way to be available 24/7 when a potential buyer wants to listen to what you have to say.

Lastly, some people just aren’t readers. They’d rather just listen and learn that way. The goal of MSPs is to prevent our customers from making mistakes that they don’t even know they are making.

At CDN Technologies we’re always looking for progressive ways to develop better relationships with employees, clients and prospects so we can grow. Podcasting is a great platform to help establish positive connections and share content. The best podcasts aren’t scripted. Podcasting is all about showing your personality and making the audience feel that they can recognize and relate to the person talking on the podcast. Eventually over time you develop your speaking skills, build your brand awareness, and, if you have guests on your podcast, they can help you advance your point of view.

Techie turned business owners, podcasting is easy and fun. If you are getting frustrated with your employees, clients. or prospecting and want to focus on tech or something else please reach out to us at CDN Technologies as one of our growth strategies is through acquisitions and we can assist with all the headaches and issues of your IT business and you can focus on what you enjoy doing the most.

About The Author

Barbara Paluszkiewicz, CDN Technologies CEO, is the author of IT Scams: How To Avoid Being Ripped Off and host of the podcast KNOW Tech Talk. She is a frequent expert guest on ABC, NBC, CBS, City TV & FOX TV News & Talk shows.