Our content and creative department at BMP Studio wants you to understand each type of marketing outreach or technology we can help you develop to move more people through your sales funnel. Besides video production, live streaming, blogging, and copywriting, we also offer podcasting as a marketing method. That is the topic we will focus on in this article, so you can learn what podcasting refers to and the basics of how to do it. We will also explain how we help you create and market a broadcast and how it ties in with the rest of your social media marketing strategy. Starting a podcast can help you reach customers in a new way, but you do need to understand what it entails first.
Podcast Defined
The term podcast refers to a digital audio recording of a show delivered via the Internet in a digital media audio file format. After its recording and mixdown, the producer makes the file available for download to an MP3 player and/or available for online listening on the show’s website. The digital file format lets the listener enjoy the show at their convenience.
A Brief History of Radio and Internet Entertainment Shows
While the first iPod broadcast file was uploaded in 2004, developed by former MTV video jockey Adam Curry and software developer Dave Winer, its roots date back to your great grandparents’ time. In the early 1900s, people listened to broadcast shows on the radio. Actors and actresses gathered in a radio studio and poured their hearts into comedies, melodramas, mysteries, and science fiction shows. The format’s heyday occurred during the 1930s and 1940s. Today, you can download some of those original shows to hear how it all began at OldRadioWorld.com. Some of acting’s biggest names crossed over into film from radio, so listening to the old radio shows provides a peek into the career starts of some of the film industry’s biggest names, including the director Orson Welles.
Today, you can enjoy those old school shows while you attend Pilates class or run a few miles thanks to the computer programming skills of Curry, who now hosts “The Daily Source Code.” He authored the program iPodder so he could download Internet radio broadcasts to his iPod. Other app developers contributed to future versions and the iPod plus broadcast notion was born.
How It Differs from Radio
Those who host radio shows know that everything they do gets regulated by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). A radio station must purchase a license to legally broadcast. The FCC limits the language they can use called broadcast decency regulations and topics to some extent since they may not produce sexually explicit content.
The broadcasts you download today to your .mp3 players have no such limitations. They experience no government regulation, no licensing, and therefore, fall privy to no decency regulations. An Internet broadcast does qualify as creative work and the broadcaster may copyright it. They can choose to use the Creative Commons copyright or they can choose more strict copywriting and require a purchase before allowing a download.
Types of Pod Broadcasts
Internet radio shows range from those professionally made by corporations and major broadcasters like the BBC to amateurs broadcasting from home, so if you have thought about starting a podcast, you could. The shows typically cater to a niche and focus on a single subject. They may cover news, talk, or tell a fictional story. Six types of pod broadcasts exist.
- Interview: Think Oprah. A host interviews one or more guests. All of the episodes center around one consistent topic, but the weekly guest differs. Businesses, brands, and industry experts utilize this type of broadcast. Handily, the host can ask the same questions each week, so they do not need to write a weekly script.
- Conversational or Panel: Think “The View.” It sounds a lot like the interview show, but with a panel of guests instead of just one. This type also requires no script. The interviewer or moderator simply ask the same questions or uses the same conversation prompts each week. These also center around a niche topic.
- Solo Show: Think stand up comedy or Shakespeare monologue. Some of these types of broadcasts include how-to or advice shows. The host must be personable, intelligent, and well-spoken. It requires a weekly script. The host must be “on it” during every show.
- Fictional Storytelling: Think audiobooks done as a movie without the pictures. This type features a cast. You only hear them so they are doing what our great grandparents loved to listen to on the radio. They act out a story. This requires scripting each week or breaking down an existing script into episodes. These challenge the broadcaster and require talented actors and actresses, so they remain rare.
- Narrative Storytelling: Think audiobooks. This could be non-fiction or fiction. It typically uses a single narrative storyteller to relate experiences or fictional stories. If you use fiction, you need voice-over talents on the level of Seth MacFarlane.
- Educational: Think educational movie day in grade school. Businesses often use this to relate product information. The host flaunts their knowledge of the niche topic and produces weekly episodes based on the topic. A business can promote products, services, or industry transformation using this type of broadcast.
Monetizing an iPod Broadcast
Most businesses make their podcast online free to download. A few must be purchased. You can make an Internet broadcast a profitable business though.
You can sell advertising to appear during your podcast online if you use broadcast aggregators like Podcast.net now or PodcastAlley.com. ThePodcastNetwork.com also uses commercials and sponsorships.
Since the broadcasts are serial in nature, you can create a subscription such as one would use for a magazine. Subscribers may get to download the file earlier than free users or may get the full episode while you might provide a preview or shortened episode for free to hook listeners.
Podcast Equipment
Once you nail down the type of show you want to host, your topic or niche, write your script and edit and time your script, you can head to the recording studio.
Once you create your file and upload it to your choice of web host, you need to market your show. Plug your show on social media, create a channel on YouTube and Vimeo, and provide clips or previews of the show. You might also want to provide a free copy of the first show to allow people to experience the show. Include a link to where to subscribe and download the .mp3 files.
Contact Us
Call us at BMP Studio and let us help you get started with your new pod broadcast today!
