To ensure a repeatable/trackable methodology for the design, development, and deployment of a corporate/business podcast, in 2006 PodWorx developed The Four P’s of Podcasting®.
It is a simple process that helps our customers understand how podcasting works and ensures they know exactly where we are in the management of their show. A more detailed description is presented during the initial meeting with our customers.
Plan
According to a 2006 survey by PodTrac, reliability, which is the delivering of a new episode when promised/as scheduled, is a top five podcast attribute to those surveyed. This means that if you say you’re going to distribute a new podcast episode every three weeks, you must keep your word.
This leads us to the first of the Four P’s of Podcasting: Planning. And while each of the Four P’s of Podcasting are important, failing to properly plan your podcast will adversely affect each of the other three steps. Our technique toward the planning of your podcast will ensure success.
A well-planned podcast will drive show momentum and increase listenership and reduce the risk associated with failing to deliver what is promised to our audience.
Produce
It is within the production stage of your podcast that your credibility is established with your audience. This is accomplished by creating a program that SOUNDS great and has great CONTENT. Failure to pay attention to both of these issues will eventually drive listenership down.
The production of a great podcast will increase the professionalism of your show and remove the concerns associated with releasing an amateurish show that sounds bad and misses the mark with our listeners.
Publish
The goal in the publishing stage of your podcast is simple: Increase probability of listernership, decrease likelihood of incompatibility. In other words, while you can’t always know who is listening to your show (or how, for that matter), it is your job to make it easy for them to do so. This requires an understanding of the technical aspect of podcasting, that is, file types, Flash players, RSS feeds, branding issues, textual content, and hosting platforms.
It is in a successful publishing step that a company will open up the communication channels between it and their customers & prospects and decrease the perceived barriers between these two groups.
Promote
The truth of it is, the “build it and they will come” mentality of podcasting is simply wrong. Baseball diamonds in cornfields should attract attention. However, lacking Kevin Costner and a movie script ensuring the baseball playing ghosts show up, you must promote your podcast.
To be ready, you must have a goto list of promotional techniques available for both your internal audience (employees, partners, analysts, current customers) and external audience. By effectively promoting the your Podcast, listeners will become more engaged and encouraged to participate and less likely to feel ambivalent about this new communication technique.