Using Podcasts For Expert Status

One hugely advantageous aspect of using podcasting as part of your marketing strategy is what it can do for your positioning.

So what exactly do I mean by that?

Well, producing a podcast can allow your business to create a valuable identity as a leader in your field, whilst enhancing your credibility too. By doing this, you could quickly find yourself becoming an authority in your industry, which is no bad thing.

It is also extremely doubtful that any of your competitors will be doing podcasting, or any other significant marketing strategies for that matter and so straight away you’re more than a step ahead of them.

You Can This Guerrilla Marketing Strategy

Why not, as a way of adding more value for your listeners, interview some of your top customers and use these interviews as powerful marketing tools for your business?

By doing this, what you are doing is leveraging something called ’social proof’. Social proof is exactly what a testimonial is, and by having this in audio format this will be infinitely more powerful than a written testimonial.

This will help prospects to visualise exactly why they should be doing business with you, as opposed to your nearest competitors.

It also cements your authority in your given industry.

Of course it would also be wise to use these very same recordings as testimonials and have them put on your website, so ensure that you ask the customers that you’re interviewing to voice their opinion of your products or services.

Plus, you could create customer loyalty as most of us like to be asked our opinions on something, and this may demonstrate to your top customers that they are indeed valued, and that their views and opinions do count.

The Double Whammy Effect Takes Place

This could potentially have a double whammy effect on your business as well. To begin with, you could get some excellent publicity from doing this as you’re customers will love you for it, plus you’re able to showcase your expertise in your particular area of business.

The double whammy effect takes place because this will in turn enhance your credibility, and the way that you are perceived by your peers, competitors, prospective customers, and of course your current clients.

You’re competitors will also be both curious and worried as to what you are up to.

Why Not Use Your Competition To Your Advantage?

So in that case, why not interview your competitors? As long as you position it correctly, they will probably be more than happy to have you interview them as it will give them so notoriety and publicity, however as it is you interviewing them, you will be perceived as the expert, and not them.

So they’re getting what they want, which is some publicity, but you’re also getting what you want, which is enhanced credibility of your expert status.

And if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably know from your own experience that most people love to talk about their expertise, their family and just generally about themselves.

This means that you probably know several people that ramble on and on about what they’ve done this week, last week and last month. These could be prime candidates for interviewing and as you will be seen as the expert, the benefits to your business could be enormous.

I hope this article gives you some insight in to just how effective a podcast could be in enhancing your businesses reputation and standing. And as you will have read in Part One of this article, it really is not that difficult to produce a podcast, so what are you waiting for?

It is evident these days that with the continual advances in technology that we’re seeing, the ability to record and produce a podcast has now become a pretty simplistic task. You certainly no longer need radio station or studio-quality recording equipment in order to produce a good quality podcast for your audience.

But why do it in the first place?

What Is A Podcast?

Well, lets start by looking at exactly what a podcast is. To put it into its simplest terms, a podcast is essentially an audio clip (or audio file) that can be placed (often referred to as embedded) anywhere on your website, and can potentially be listened to by anyone who visits your site.

Podcasting first became popular in 2005 with the launch of iTunes. If the latest statistics are to be believed, and given the current trends in the sales of portable media devices, as many as 275 million people around the world will own a portable media player by the year 2011.

This fact alone clearly demonstrates the popularity of listening on the move, or at least listening when it is convenient.

So why is this important?

Well, for prospects or customers who are interested in the audio that you have produced, it can also be downloaded onto an mp3 media device or onto a computer. In addition, there is also the possibility that people may want to subscribe to your podcasts, and as you’ll find out in Part Two of this article, this is something that can provide huge potential success and opportunities for your business.

So one critical reason why podcasts offer such potential benefits for your business is by downloading it, your listener can digest your podcast at a convenient time to them.

This is an important distinction because it fits in perfectly within the new ‘permission marketing’ framework that I have mentioned in previous articles. If you can use a media (such as podcasting) that your target audience is using and is comfortable with, you have an opportunity to get your message across more effectively.

Providing Choice Is So Important

Having a choice of how and when to see or hear your company’s message fits in perfectly with the way that your potential customers live their lives today. It can also carry more weight and effectiveness, as you are not ramming your company’s message down the throat of every poor, unsuspecting person that walks by.

This is one of the reasons why podcasts are as popular as they are. We all have so little time on our hands these days and we are bombarded with literally hundreds upon hundreds of marketing messages each and every day. But with a podcast, it can be downloaded and listened to at home, at work, on the train, on the tube, in fact anywhere.

And by producing podcasts your business will be perceived as being different. This is also very important, and something that I will cover in Part Two of this article.