Podcasting for Business

Written by Scott Whitney

I’m flying out to Boston next week to work with a customer on an Intracast.  This customer came up with a clever way to use podcasting to reach out to a variety of employees, with a focus on new hires.

As part of their new hire process, this division within a large company will make available an Intracast featuring interviews will all their managers and executives. . .from around the world.  The intent is to educate new hires on how the division works, what’s important to the success of the organization, and how employees can help.

Here’s an example of some of the questions I’ll ask the interviewees:

1. What is your role within the division/how would you describe what you do?
2. How is your team structured and where are your employees located?
3. What are the challenges of doing business in your area of expertise?
4. How is your success measured and why is that important to the company?
5. What suggestions do you have for new employees to help them succeed? 

If you’re a new hire, these are the questions you want answers to.  And even if you’re a long-time employee, either within the division or out, this helps everybody understand what it is that motivates this organization.

Logistically, I’m flying to Boston because all the execs and managers in this division will be in the area for a multi-day strategy meeting.  So we just added “podcast interview” to their schedule.   (Of course, we could have just scheduled a bunch of phone interviews. . .but doing it this way turns the whole process into an event, giving the podcast more weight in the eyes of the managers.)  There’s a nice buzz among those involved. . .I’m looking forward to the trip.

Posted on July 23rd, 2008
Filed under: Podcast Reasons List, Podcast Thoughts | 3 Comments »

Written by Scott Whitney

We are in the final stages of developing a brand new website for one of our long-running shows, the Living in Las Vegas Podcast.  One of the most exciting things we’re developing is the seamless integration of a stand-alone blog along with the podcast content.  For companies interested in reaching out to their customers and prospects in more then one way, this is the way to go.

Here’s why I LOVE this combination: It allows me to touch my audience with the rich media associated with the podcast AND also allows for quick hits–brief bits of information that keeps the audience and me connected.

More importantly, if you configure your website correctly, you can create multiple RSS feeds to allow your visitors to access what they want when they want it.

For example, we’re going to have the following feeds:

1. ALL — This feed will contain both the blog posts and podcast episodes. 
2. AUDIO ONLY — This feed will just contain the podcast audio posts
3. BLOG ONLY — For folks who just want to read the more frequent blog posts, this is the feed for them.

Because the foundation of our new site is WordPress, this is VERY easy to do.  Let’s say for example that this blog contained podcast episodes as well.  And let’s further agree (for this exercise) that the Speaking category was my podcast category. 

To access just the Speaking category via the web, you would go here:

http://www.podworx.com/blog/index.php/category/speaking/

To turn that into an RSS feed, just add the word feed to the end of the URL:

http://www.podworx.com/blog/index.php/category/speaking/feed

Pretty neat, huh?

This is an especially good idea for companies that have long gaps of time between podcast episodes.  Now, as you’re preparing for your next episode, you could be teasing your audience with a glimpse of what’s to come or provide other useful information that doesn’t warrant the production of a full podcast episode.  Regardless of how you use the blog+podcast combination, you can be sure that you’ll further enhance the connection between you and your subscribers.  Which is the point, right?

Posted on July 8th, 2008
Filed under: Podcast Thoughts | 2 Comments »

Written by Scott Whitney

Consider this, my dear readers — if you’re company is at a size that an all-hands meeting can’t possibly be attended by all the hands within your business, somebody is going to feel left out.

That somebody may have had to stay by his desk to answer the phone in case somebody (a customer…or maybe a prospect?!?!) called.  Or perhaps she works swing shift.  Or if the company is really large, maybe a whole division is in a different country.  Regardless of the reason, nobody likes to feel left out.  And if you’re going to take the time to update your employees about what’s what, don’t you think it should include everybody?

An internal podcast, or what we call an Intracast™, can solve this problem, and others as well.

PodWorx produces quite a few Intracasts for our customers.  In combination, here’s an abbreviated list of some of their features:

• Summarize all-hands meetings
• New hire orientation, including the introduction to managers throughout their division
• Human resource updates
• Customer success stories
• Gives the C-Suite executives an opportunity to periodically update all employees on goals, drivers and the status of the business
• Sales training, competitive updates
• New product information
• Employee highlights
• Partner/Reseller updates

The list goes on.  The companies using an Intracast to reach out to their employees LOVE the idea that these important people can consume this content at their convenience, without having to use an iron fist.  And we (PodWorx) makes sure that the mode of consumption is as easy as possible:

• Direct MP3 download
• RSS Subscription (like a typical podcast)
• iTunes autosubscribe
• Embedded Flash Player on their intranet

On a personal note, I think Intracasts are one of the most exciting uses of podcasting technology available to companies today.  Employees love ‘em.  Companies love ‘em.  And you can’t beat any technique that brings management and employees closer together.

Thoughts?  Have you starting using podcasting technology to communicate within your organization?  What type of content are you providing to your employees?  Let us know!

Posted on June 25th, 2008
Filed under: Podcast Reasons List, Podcast Thoughts | No Comments »

Written by Scott Whitney

Of each of the Four P’s of Podcasting (Plan, Produce, Publish, Promote), the step that generates the most comments from those I interview (and the step that helps make smart people sound smart) is the production stage.

When producing your podcast, it’s important to remember that your listener’s time is limited.  Knowing that, you want to make sure the content they consume is clear and concise.   The challenge you may run into is that the folks who appear on your show may know what they’re talking about, but have a hard to getting it out.  Because most of your guests will not have had any form of media training, it’s not uncommon to have a recording of great content buried within a mountain of umms, errs, stutters, non-words and false starts.  All of which is tedious, from a listener’s perspective.

This is where post-production magic comes to the forefront.  Instead of leaving all that unnecessary content in the show, it’s possible to remove most of it–leaving an interview that is a pleasure to listen to and wastes no time presenting the information at hand.

Below you’ll hear two examples–one pre-production and one post-production.  The difference is staggering.  (For those reading this via an RSS reader, you’ll want to visit the website to hear the two examples.)

An added bonus to this post-production work is the reaction from the guest. Most guests tend to think they could have done better. After hearing the post-produced show, they LOVE the way they sound and are eager to work with you again! This, naturally, leads to more great content for your listeners.

Bottom line: While it can be time consuming for you, post-production contributes to saving time for your listener.  Which is a good thing.

Listen Now:

 

 Pre-Production Example [0:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Listen Now:

 

 Post-Production Example [0:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted on June 11th, 2008
Filed under: Podcast Thoughts | No Comments »

Written by Scott Whitney

It’s always fun to receive positive feedback from a podcast listener.  Even more fun is to see how a “Great Podcast” email leads to more and more excitement within the company for whom the podcast is produced for.  It also shows how there is a good chance that you might bump into a listener!

This email came from a listener (and Interwoven prospect) to Intersections by Interwoven.

Date: 5/12/08
From: Dave (not real name)
Subject: Great Podcast

Thank you.
Dave

(DAM stands for Digital Asset Management, by the way.)

The email was forwarded to several folks within Interwoven, all of whom got a kick out of getting this type of feedback.  Interestingly, one of the people copied on the initial distribution of the email asked another on the cc list if she had recently met “Dave” at the symposium he mentioned in his email.

She had.  Here’s what she said of the conversation:

“I sat next to Dave at the dinner event on Monday night.  He told me that he had downloaded all the podcasts onto his iPod for his trip into NY.  He said they were great and also said we were the ONLY vendor doing something like that.” [emphasis added by Scott]

The only vendor. . .nice.

Competitive differentiation. . .check!

Can you imagine being asked to provide a customer or prospect’s in-flight entertainment?  Interwoven can.  And so can you, as long as you remember that Dave filled his iPod with Interwoven podcast episodes not because the Interwoven podcast contains a bunch of sales stuff, but because it helps educate him. . .makes him better at his job.  Helps him do his job easier.  And clearly demonstrates to him that Interwoven is interest in making it easy to work with their organization.

Niiiice.

Dave has since moved closer towards being a one of Interwoven’s newest customers.   And you can bet that having a podcast helped Interwoven demonstrate to Dave that they were ready to help solve his business issues and help make him more effective at his job.

What kind of feedback are you receiving from your podcast listeners?  Positive?  Negative?  Anything?!?

Posted on June 2nd, 2008
Filed under: Podcast Marketing, Podcast Thoughts | No Comments »
Tags: podcast feedback customers