by April Wilson

Created on: January 19, 2010

If you own a business and have a relatively non-grating speaking voice, then your business can be enhanced by creating a weekly or bi-monthly podcast.  The benefits of a podcast for your business are as follows:

1. Connecting with customers and clients. 

Anything you can do to connect on a more personal level with your customers and clients is a good thing and will enhance your business. If you run a business where you don't interact in person with most of your clients and customers such as an online business, then you need tools to keep you in people's minds as a human being first and a business second. People like to buy from and interact with and get things from other human beings, not companies.  No matter how large your company is, if you can add that personal human touch, you'll go much farther.  Blogs can accomplish this to some degree if they speak to the reader in a friendly and conversational or helpful manner.  A podcast goes even further because now you aren't just disconnected text on a screen. You're a voice with inflection and laughter and warmth.  (If your recording voice doesn't have these things, cultivate them.)

2. Public Speaking Opportunities.

When people hear your voice regularly on a podcast, they start to think of you as a public speaker.  Even if you aren't standing in front of a crowd and you're recording from your basement at home, if you speak directly to your listener, and that connection is formed, then in their mind, you are a speaker.  If you're interested in public speaking opportunities to help grow and enhance your business, you never know who is listening and when you might get one.  You also may get offers to be a guest on radio programs as well.

3. Another Marketing Avenue.

Podcasting is yet another avenue to get your business noticed by other people. Especially if what you provide in your podcast is useful information and commentary that connects with what you do, but isn't a 30 minute advertisement.  Your podcast should not be the audio equivalent of an infomercial, it should be a more social marketing tool.

4. Networking.

As you begin to podcast, you'll start to mingle and interact with others who also podcast, or others in your business.  You may be able to work cooperatively with some of your competitors at times on joint ventures.  Or you may be able to work cooperatively with people who aren't direct competitors but offer something that is complementary to what you offer.

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