Managers Tune into Podcasting
Podcasting gives listeners what they want to hear, when they want to hear it and where they want to hear it. It sounds like a dream come true in the world of customer service.
The trouble for managers and marketers who may consider adopting this technology is that it is still in its infancy of development. The cost-benefit isn’t recognizable, nor measurable. There are various levels of understanding about the podcasting phenomenon:
- You may have heard of it, but buried the idea in the back of your mind.
- You have an idea what it is, but never considered its usefulness as a marketing tool.
- You know it, love it, and use it both personally and professionally.
Since most managers still fall into the first two categories, podcasting remains an under-utilized communication tool. But podcasting can provide businesses with an effective means of connecting to internal and external customers.
A 2005 study by the Pew Research Center shows that nearly 30 percent of the 22 million American adults with iPods or MP3 players have downloaded "podcasts" from the Web.
According to Wikipedia, a podcast is defined as a Web feed, or frequently updated log, of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to download or subscribe. Its essence is about creating content - audio or video - for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where they want, and how they want. It uses real simple syndication (RSS) or Atom to format the Web feed.
Content creation and Web-presence aside, managers and businesses have struggled to isolate the value proposition of podcasting.
The Salem Statesman-Journal, a daily newspaper in Oregon’s state capital, faces this dilemma. Although some members are enthusiastic about using podcasting, managers have been reluctant to give the green light to launching podcasts. Like any other project, podcasting must have a positive ROI.
Online manager Kent Ecklor and systems analyst Aaron Marvin highlight the pros and cons of podcasting for a multimedia company like the Statesman Journal.
“The investment will pay off in two ways: generating new revenue (via ads, etc.) and reaching a new audience, one that probably does not and possibly will not ever subscribe to the Statesman Journal print newspaper,” Marvin said.
Ecklor, on the other hand, emphasizes the intangible benefits podcasting may bring to the newspaper.
“We would utilize podcasting to report news stories, columns, special features and possibly interviews,” he said. “The goal would be to grow readership and to attract a younger demographic to the site.”
Marvin adds: “Podcasting, more than anything, is just a new medium for delivering content. We have a lot of content – local sports, government news, home and garden ideas, local news – that is important to our community, and we need to look at the best ways to deliver that content. For some of our potential readers, podcasting is a preferred method. Others prefer our Web site and still others prefer the print paper.”
How is added value measured?
“[We] use link-tracking to determine how many times a Podcast was downloaded,” Ecklor said.
Link tracking monitors links internal to the Web site and provides information to the Webmaster about where their visitors are going and where they are not going on the Web site.
It is still difficult to know the audience’s behavior on the other side of the connection. Just because a podcast is downloaded does not mean the end-user has watched or listened to it. Moreover, what’s to prevent him or her from passing it on to other users? Here, we encounter a dilemma newspapers have faced for years: untraceable pass-on readership.
Ecklor envisions the newspaper “tracking audience behavior on the site by monitoring click-thru ratios on certain content and links.” Click-thru ratios describe the percentage of people who came to your business or Web site and actually saw the content. In direct mail, this is known as the "response rate.” Focus groups are also under consideration.
According to Ecklor, the drawbacks of podcasting at the Statesman Journal include “a lack of equipment, such as microphones, recording software, mixing boards and software, and a lack of expertise, such as audio recording and editing skills, and economic feasibility or financial justification for podcasting.”
Depending on each company’s needs, podcasting could be used as an integral part of its marketing strategy. However, it is still uncertain whether it is effective when used alone or to increase the visibility of the other online marketing tools like e-mail marketing or blogs.
Companies have the choice of delivering their podcasts via their own Web sites or specialized sites, such as:
Marvin explains that the newspaper “would definitely consider using third-party sites.”
“The key for us would be to get the word out in every way possible. To limit ourselves to only our Web site would be setting us up for failure.”
Ecklor predicts podcasting “will take on a similar business model as the radio industry, with targeted advertising based on the content of the podcast.”