A discussion about corporate and business podcasting with tips and guidelines

Note: Leesa Barnes takes over this blog while Jon enjoys his nuptials and honeymoon on the West Coast. He returns August 10th. Enjoy Leesa's take on podcasting in the meantime.

I just read an enjoyable article written by About.com's Podcasting Guide, John C. Havens. In his article on Adotas.com, Havens states that podcasting is a no-brainer for your business.

There are just way too many good points that Havens made in his article, namely:

• If you're too busy to podcast, no worries as your free time will increase as your competitor starts to steal your customers & prospects through his
• Companies that use a podcast to build a community will connect better with their target market than those worried about the ROI
• Podcasting is not about competing with Howard Stern; it's about speaking the truth to your market
• The only way you can really know that someone has listened to the very end of your podcast is to stalk or harrass them, but that can get expensive
• You're probably not going to make a dime charging people to download your podcast, not unless you're Elvis or Ricky Gervais
  

When I meet corporate-type people and tell them about podcasting, the first thing out of their mouth is, "What's the ROI?", or "How can I measure this?"

I get the feeling that anytime a marketing or executive-type person feels that their space is being invaded by yet-another-technology-tool, they ask these questions just to protect their turf.

Get over it. At least that's what Havens is saying in his article. It's time to embrace podcasting for what it is - an online tool that will help connect your market to your brand in a much more human way.

And that boys & girls is much more profitable in the long run.
Read the full article here.