Podcasting Used As a Business Marketing Tool by Media Publishing Giant Simon & Schuster

by: Rodney Rumford
Copyright 2005 Rodney RumfordPodcasting has hit the marketing world big time with the recent launch of a new podcast by Simon & Schuster. I was recently involved in a consulting role with a podcasting project with publishing giant Simon and Schuster and their website http://www.simonsays.com . They are using this podcast RSS feed to interview world famous authors and have authors read excerpts from their books. This is a brilliant marketing strategy for their website, authors, products and brand. They are actually using the podcast to promote the products that they publish. This is a very innovative business marketing strategy. They are publishing 30 minute podcast shows every week. This allows potential consumers to get exposure to their products. This will create increased interest in their products. This will in turn drive sales and increase the branding for their business. This professionally produced podcast series of shows will undoubtedly become a favorite of many consumers.It is also noteworthy to mention that you do not need an iPod to listen to a podcast. You can simply listen to podcasts on your desktop computer. You can subscribe to podcast feeds with Yahoo, iTunes, Mozilla Firefox, Google Desktop Search Toolbar 2.0, or any variety of desktop podcast RSS feed reader software tools. The business benefits of a proper podcast marketing strategy can be quite immense. Podcasting is another business communication and marketing tool that allows businesses to communicate with their target market. Subscribers to the podcasts RSS feed will automatically receive new podcasts when they are published. Businesses that create podcasts can have a direct communication and marketing channel online.Having a quality professional podcast that delivers value added exclusive content can increase your online visibility. Search engines such as Google will index podcasts feeds, Blog and podcast directories will list podcast feeds, and targeted traffic will subscribe to those podcast feeds. Let’s also remember that a quality podcast has the opportunity to be listed in the iTunes podcast directory and found by over 40 million users.Leveraging podcasting as a business promotion and marketing tool is going to be part of the business landscape online for years to come. When media giants such as CBS, Viacom, and countless other business giants such as IBM and Oracle are podcasting; you can bet money that this marketing media format is here to stay. Your business should give serious consideration to creating a podcast marketing strategy with experienced professionals in this field. This is a marketing and communication medium that your business will want to execute and leverage for maximum marketing and business benefit online.