Here’s a short article on a very successful pordcast initiative that I sent MarketingSherpa and they published it in their annual Marketing Wisdom report for 2010. This year’s report features 70 real-life stories and lessons from marketers who weathered last year’s brutal economy. You may download the full Marketing Wisdom 2010 report here.

Last year, Covisio ran an extremely successful podcasting program for one of our clients. Our main goal was to generate podcasting content that was valuable to our client’s target audience. If we were successful with that, we knew we would get better brand awareness, increase online reputation, demonstrate thought leadership, boost web traffic, and, ultimately, facilitate the sales process. So here’s a few things we did differently:

1. All podcast participants were industry experts (non-affiliated with our client) that shared their insights on key industry topics.

2. No promotional pitches for our client were allowed in the podcasts; rather the focus was on hot-button industry topics.

3. Each podcast was structured in a way that could provide the most value to the audience (in terms of topic, insights, length, etc.)

4. The podcasts were hosted in an open WordPress/Podpress platform allowing for social sharing, bookmarking, tagging, rating, etc. No registration forms were required to access the podcasts.

5. The podcasting program was tightly integrated into our clients marketing mix and featured on their web site, their e-newsletter, their blog, their social network presences, and so on.

6. Production costs were kept low primarily because the content itself ended up being extremely valuable.

In social media marketing, if you provide value to your community, you will get value back!

If you would like to visit the site of the award-winning podcasting program (that’s still being very very successful), it’s Xyleme Voices.

I was speaking to one of my clients about a potential podcast series as part of their social media initiative. He informs me that he knows of a great vendor who produces podcasts – and, at $3,000 a pop, they are a total bargain. My first thought: are podcasts lux items now?

I think podcasts are a great thing. They provide a terrific way for vendors to tap industry experts who are almost always willing to share their insights to produce a high quality piece that will bring value to their target market. That is my theory anyway, but perhaps I am wrong because podcast after podcast that I download from technology vendors, I notice a couple of things.

1. The production value of a Ryan Seacrest-like voice coupled with a slick instrumental techno music intro usually outweighs the value of the podcast content.

2. Podcasts are most often used as direct sales tool rather than a knowledge tool that shares subject matter expertise to build brand and reputation.

The point here is not to belittle the value of podcast producers or to diss that great interview with your product manager about the features of your company’s new widget. The point is to stop thinking of podcasts simply as audio collateral but rather as a valuable tool for your social media initiatives to generate conversation and engage your audience.

Paul Dunay, one of my favorite bloggers, recently posted 5 Tips for Optimizing your Facebook Marketing. In it, he recommends the syndication of your podcast series as a way to provide rich content to your Facebook Fan page. The pity with that great post is that he put the most salient point at the end:

“While the costs of social marketing are low don’t let that fool you. The true cost is found in the creation of content. And your key to success will be the consistent participation and willingness to engage your customers you can create by using great content.”

I have another client who had absolutely no budget for their podcast series. My advice to them: great, let’s get going on it then. Podcast tools are free. Great content costs time, effort, motivation and the open-mindedness to do a few things that may seem counter-intuitive:

Find people your audience wants to listen to: In most cases, this means going outside your organizations to find those industry experts who are generating conversation. Smart people understand the value of sharing their expertise and in more cases than not, you will find willing participants.

Talk about hot button issues: This means letting go of that need to directly promote your company and its products. Let the participant choose the topic he or she wants to discuss, even if it has nothing directly to do with your offerings. Smart vendors are part of the conversation; they don’t use the conversation for blatant promotion.

Be prepared: This means knowing who you are talking to. Study your participant’s blogs, articles, presentations etc. and prepare thoughtful insightful questions. There is nothing worse than an interviewer asking simplistic, high level questions and being unable to engage once an answer is given.

Understand that it’s not about you (yet): Just forget about promoting your company. Instead, promote the podcast subject matter and its participant. Give a killer intro and explain why and how your participant brings value. Close by providing links to the participant’s blog, notifying the audience of the participant’s books or publications, asking the audience to connect with the participant via twitter, letting everyone know where the participant will be speaking next, etc.

Web 2.0 enable your podcasts: Think of your podcast library as a blog and set it up like one. Make the most out of your efforts by allowing your audience to easily find, share, bookmark, comment, and subscribe to the available content.

Set your priorities straight: With today’s slashed marketing budgets, think wisely about where you want to spend your limited dollars. It’s tempting to want to put your podcast in a glossy wrapper, but is having your podcast take place in a sound studio with original music really adding any value to anyone?