Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Undoubtedly, a great deal of small business marketing topics is devoted to social media, whether it is improving your fan status on Facebook, increasing your followers on Twitter, or making the most connections on LinkedIn. However, one online marketing form that is not seeing much use anymore, but is still a highly effective online marketing tool, is the podcast.

A podcast is simply an audio recording that is made available for online users to download and listen at their convenience. They are usually in MP3 format, which is a compressed audio format that maintains good audio quality but reduces the file size.

Once you make your audio podcast recording, you simply upload it to your website or other online distributor and market them to subscribers and other potential customers.

Advantages to Podcasting

How can podcasting help your business? Here are a few ways.

• Fewer Competitors - While larger numbers of businesses are using social media outlets, fewer are utilizing the podcast. You can become an expert in your industry and dominate your podcast market through quality recordings.
• Podcasting Possibilities - Podcasting is a creative medium that can be utilized for small business marketing in a variety of ways.
• Popular Distribution - Podcasting is still popular and can easily be distributed through your website and even the iTunes Apple store for free.

How Can You Use a Podcast?

• Educate your customers - Use podcast recordings to educate subscribers and listeners on topics pertaining to your industry. An educated and smart consumer is more likely to buy your products.
• PR - Use podcasts as a PR tool to announce special events, news, and new product offerings.
• Advertise - A podcast can be a simple advertisement for a product or service through quality description, sales notices, and even real customer testimonials.
• Link on Social Media - You can easily include a link to your most recent podcast on your social media status updates.

Tips on Making Podcast Episodes

• Remember to talk about important and interesting topics
• Keep your podcasts short. No one wants to hear hours of ongoing and droning talking. 30-45 minutes should be maximum.
• Keep on track. Have an outline to use while recording. Avoid all the "um's" and "uh's" one usually uses while doing extemporaneous talking. Edit portions out if necessary.
• Use quality equipment. You can easily get an affordable and quality USB microphone to make your recordings. Use a quiet space to do your recording, and take advantage of sound editing software to edit out unwanted or irrelevant material.

Podcasting can still be a powerful tool for increasing customers and revenues, especially given the smaller field of competition today.

The next wave of the 2010 Small Business Success Index (SBSI) report has been published. The report is sponsored by the online research firm, Network Solutions, and the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. According to the most recent report, small business owners are still using social media, but their views of what social media can do for them have changed.

One of the biggest changes in social media is the expectation of what it will do or accomplish for the small business. Previously, the SBSI report from the end of 2009 showed that more small business owners expected that social media would generate leads than would create and build awareness of their business. However, the mid-2010 report taken from a poll conducted in June of 2010 showed that this is now reversed. 77 percent of small business owners now believe social media is better suited to build awareness while 71 percent believe it can be used to generate leads.

As far as meeting those expectations, most small business owners, 58 percent, believe that social media does meet the expectations they set for their business. One expectation that is becoming more popular among small business owners is that 62 percent believe social media is likely to help keep them in touch with their customers. This is up from only 45 percent in December of 2009.

How many small business owners utilize social media? Still, this number is small. Only 20 percent of the 500 business owners surveyed said they use social media as part of their small business marketing, or some way for their business. Most small business owners who use social media, 82 percent, say they have a Facebook page for their business. 38 percent have a LinkedIn page, while only 30 percent say they have a Twitter account for their small business. And of those who utilize Facebook or Twitter, 65 percent post regular status updates or tweets.

The SBSI report is a good gauge to view the outlook other small business owners have on important small business topics. How do you fit in with the social media expectations? Do you use social media mainly to acquire leads, or to create and develop awareness?

Cold calling, or outbound marketing, can be a thorn in your company's side. It takes a great deal of effort and money in order to convert a potential customer from a cold sales call or visit. The better way to convert customers is through inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is when a potential customer, or lead, contacts your business independently. With an already generated interest, you have a much better possibility of converting that lead into a paying customer. One smart way to help improve your inbound marketing is through your company blog.

The Inbound Powers of a Blog

Why a blog? You may think blogs are passé. They were the "in" marketing trend four or five years ago, but now with social media applications like Twitter and Facebook, no one uses a blog, right? This could be both right and wrong. The bad news is that fewer business owners are writing and maintaining blogs. The good news is that fewer business owners are blogging and creating a less saturated "blogosphere" - which means you can get more notice from customers.

The fact is that blogs are still popular among your potential customers. When a potential customer conducts a search through a major search engine, it isn't Facebook that appears on top of the results. It is likely that a regularly updated blog will have the answer and be the top choice that search engines give to their search clients.

That means you have a huge opportunity to make your company blog pay off on your marketing expense category and become a major part of your lead generation. How do you do this? Here are some tips:

Provide Downloadable Content

Part of what attracts website searchers and surfers to a blog is the "free" content they can download. This is a great way to acquire email addresses for your newsletter. A free download can be anything such as a short Ebook, white paper, or any other helpful guide that provides quality service to your reader.

Polls and Surveys

Get your blog readers involved. Include blog posts that ask your readers questions that can improve your business offerings. Ask their opinions, and engage your audience on potential new products or services.

Constant New Content

Search engines like a website that provides fresh and updated content. Post a regular blog entry or article at least three times a week. You don't have to write them yourself. Hire a professional blogger to write for you if you must, but keep your blog updated regularly, and it will get the notice you desire.