Small businesses struggle every day to compete for limited dollars in their target market and to get their message out. Increasingly, consumers are getting fed up with the traditional approaches to marketing through print and media advertising. One of the key barriers to entry for small business in advertising and getting their message out is price. It is very expensive to advertise your business. However, in today's competitive economy, you cannot afford to be left out if you sincerely want to grow your business to the next level.
If you are a small business owner, you cannot afford to miss the opportunity that podcasting brings. Podcasting is a communications tool that allows you to develop your own "show" about whatever subject matter you desire. Podcasting from a marketing perspective is a clear disruptive technology in that it changes the whole paradigm for how we as small business owners communicate with our target market.
Podcasting embraces the notion of a new concept called "time shifting". From a marketing perspective, we endeavor to craft a message, target our message, publish our message, and then hope someone reads our marketing message when we send it. The old paradigm is that you must consume it when we send it to you and thus, we have to be brief, succinct and to the point in our delivery. Often, if we are presenting a new product or service to the market, we must EDUCATE the market as to the key benefits of our product or service. This is hard to do in less than a minute. Podcasting SHIFTS THE TIME for consumption of the message facilitating the new "TAKE ME WITH YOU" approach to marketing. This is a powerful concept. Now, your prospects have the opportunity to take you with them where ever they go - they can download your audio file on their iPod or MP3 player and take you with them. This is excellent for busy executives on the go who may have interest in what you offer but don't have time during working hours to EDUCATE THEMSELVES.
As a small business owner you must realize that MARKET EDUCATION is an important strategy for your marketing mix. It is critically important to tell our market why your product and service is the best or most effective in the market. Consumers today often spend time educating themselves before they leap - especially when significant dollars are in question.
I find that most businesses spend a lot of time talking about how good their products and services are rather than educating the market. The most common form of market education is the white paper. However, how many busy executives have time to sit down and read all of the white papers relevant to their interests. If you provide a convenient audio that they can listen to whenever they want, you have embraced the art of time shifting - they can take your message with them and educate themselves at their convenience. The easier you make it, the more successful you will be.
Podcasting is relatively easy to get started with and doesn't require a lot of capital. This makes it ideal for small businesses. Keep watching this blog and I will talk more about podcasting and how to get started! Basically, you need a microphone and something to say to get started. Also, its a good idea to have a website to publish your podcast to. If you want to reach a broader audience, you can also publish your podcast on iTunes!
Small businesses today need to embrace technology to be successful. If you want to accelerate your business velocity and move to the next level, manual operations and antiquated marketing strategies are a thing of the past. Check out podcasting as a viable means to get your message out and allow your prospects to "take you with them"
Podcasting is somewhat of a misnomer because it implies you need and iPod to listen.
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