Podcasting Monetization Strategies for Marketers

Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik

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

Today we'll be taking a look at how marketers can monetize podcasting through enhanced marketing activities.

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 for you to consider:

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.