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You are here: Home » The RSS Marketing Diary » Podcasting and RSS Audio » Podcasting Monetization Strategies #1: Marketers

August 30, 2005

Podcasting Monetization Strategies #1: Marketers

With the growing popularity of podcasting, publishers and marketers around the world are asking themselves how to monetize this content channel.

1. Marketers: Monetization Through Enhanced Marketing Initiatives

While publishers might find it relatively easy to integrate podcasting in to their business models without really "creating a revolution", the opportunities for marketers really go beyond traditional marketing tactics.

To understand the opportunity we need to understand what podcasting brings to the marketing table: the power of voice, delivered directly to our prospects, customers, employees and partners.

While text might still be the most "usable" format and the easiest to consume, voice itself has the unique feature of being able to express emotion and bring personality in to marketing communications.

For marketers, monetizing podcasting won't come through ad sales or content sales, but through opportunities to enhance their marketing communications with the power of emotion, delivered directly to their receipients.

Here are just some possibilities, which we will take a more detailed look at in future articles in this series:

a] PR: Audio press releases, messages from company executives, expert interviews and other industry related material, all delivered directly to the media.

b] Direct marketing: Sales letters and other ad creative, delivered in audio and directly to your prospects.

c] Customer Relationship Management and User Support: Personal messages and greetings from company executives, persoanlized messages to key clients by key account managers, educational content and industry interviews, seminar or conference recordings, product support information and tutorials, ...

e] Promotion: Achieving additional company/brand/product exposure by providing podcasts and promoting them via podcast directories and search engines.

f] E-commerce: Audio product announcements and presentations, delivered to prospects that opt-in to receive latest product information. In the case of audio products, podcasts can also carry short excerpts or previews of new editions, thus enticing prospects to order.

g] Branding and Prospect Conversion: Educational content and industry interviews that help shorten the sales cycle or generate/improve company credibility and enhance its brand.

h] Advertising in third-party podcasts

And so on ...

In these examples monetization does not come through directly generated revenues, but indirectly through improved sales.

Actually, marketers are already starting to take advantage of these opportunities.

As described in InformationWeek, Oracle is planning on providing 10- to 20-minute podcasts daily for its user conference next month, "designed for the ears of the software developers and database administrators who buy its products".

The podcasts will be available via Oracle Technology Network TechCasts on the vendor's Web site and through online podcast directories, including iTunes and Podcast Alley. "If you're a developer or database administrator interested in new technologies, then podcasting is an excellent resource," says Justin Kestelyn, editor in chief of Oracle Technology Network. "You're going to hear directly from the people involved in the project what the technology has to offer."

Clearly an excelent Customer Relationship Management implementation.

Other examples provided by InformationWeek also include:

a] IBM is offering podcasts for investors on different uses of their technology. Again, a Customer Relationship Management tactic, this time aimed at business partners instead of prospects or customers.

b] Purina is "supplementing its traditional advertising with podcasts published every other week for veterinarians and pet lovers. They include interviews with vets and other experts on animal training, pet surgery, medical insurance, and behavioral issues." Could be classified as Branding and Prospect Conversion.

c] Purdue University is recording class lectures and making them available as podcasts. Certainly a User Support implementation.

d] And the most interesting example, demonstrating the power of voice for marketing communications: "And religious groups are using podcasting as a virtual pulpit. One of the more successful examples is Tim Hohm, a senior pastor at Central Assembly in El Sobrante, Calif., who delivers a 15-minute inspirational message twice weekly called RevTim. Subscriptions to RevTim have grown to 6,000 since the podcast was launched in December, ranking it among the top 50 most popular podcasts on Podcast Alley."

Comments

Excellent run down Rok. We share many similar thoughts, will be recommended reading for my list. Here's another one - appear as guest speaker on podcasts. Great for niches.

Posted by: Lynette at August 31, 2005 4:22 AM

Lynette,

Thank you for the suggestion.

Here's another one I missed: using podcasts as a lead generation vehicle, namely providing access to podcasts upon completing a registration form.

Posted by: Rok Hrastnik at August 31, 2005 6:26 PM

Great post Rok.

I have had a lot of success selling audio MP3's with BitPass, via my blog. The typical audio file will bring in about $500-$1000 and take no time to create.

You can see an example here...

http://goldblogger.com/wordpress/archives/the-o-factor-the-secret-to-getting-your-customers-to-hand-over-all-their-money/

The blog entry acts as a mini-sales letter and is VERY effective, as you can tell from the comments on that entry.

Because of that success I have come up with another model. I leased a high-bandwidth server this past week, so I can offer podcasts to a wider market.

The first 3-5 minutes of the podcast will be free. If they want the whole thing, they will have to pay via BitPass.

The secret is to make the content EXTREMELY valuable. Your readers/listeners have to feel that they are trading dimes for dollars. And that is my target.

Aloha,

Jason Cain
www.Goldblogger.com

Posted by: Jason Cain at September 7, 2005 12:08 AM

That is exactly the kind of information I've been waiting to hear Jason! A lot of times people come to me about using podcasts as a marketing vehicle but sometimes I'd like to steer them from using it as a vehicle to making it part of an income stream but I have little concrete info to give them this is great! Thanks for sharing Jason.

Rok Love that idea. I've done that too. Given the small number I publicized, I am quite pleased with the results.

Posted by: Lynette Chandler at September 8, 2005 10:12 AM

Jason, thank you for this most wonderful case study. Would you be interested in being interviewed about this?

Thank you,

Rok

Posted by: Rok Hrastnik at September 12, 2005 6:06 PM

Aloha People,

Sorry, I missed the earlier reply on this.

Making money is a lot easier than people think. It just takes DOING IT -- and of course most people are all show -- and no go...

Rok: Interview? Sure.

Aloha,

Jason Cain
www.Goldblogger.com

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