Podcasts are a great marketing tool. It helps build noise for your website–with every new segment, you have something to announce or promote, and the fresh content can help increase traffic and you website’s “stickiness”.

However, many podcast publicity efforts fizzle. Marketing does not come naturally to many webmasters, who would rather make the website changes than trumpet them on news sites or mass mediums like newspapers or radio. The good news is that you don’t need a degree in public relations to make the most of your podcast efforts. Here are some tips to remember.

Craft your press release around a newsworthy angle. Saying “hey, look, I have a podcast” won’t get you any significant PR attention, since anyone can make a podcast (and thousands of people do each day). How do you define newsworthy? Well, for an editor, that means it 1) delivers a new or fresh piece of information that is significant to the readers, and 2) showcases the opinion or help of an expert who readers would like to hear from.

Let’s say you have a parenting podcast about, say, colic. When you make your press release, your first paragraph should build on how colic affects millions of babies, results in sleepless nights, and that many of the “home remedies” offered by friends don’t really work. This sends the message that you are tackling an important problem that can affect many readers.

Then, deliver your promise. Does your colic podcast feature a new and improved breakthrough that not many people have heard of? Or does it have interviews of parents who review existing solutions and tell readers what works or what does not? Does it sit down with a renowned paediatrician who draws from years of experience to “debunk” colic myths? Or does it look at new colic relief products released in the last year, and compare the pros and cons of each?

These colic products are sure to be announced or featured in parenting blogs, websites, magazines and shows because they have a newsworthy angle. There is input from an expert, a promise of a fresh perspective on an age-old (and often tired) topic, and a real benefit to those who listen to the podcast. Banner this in your press releases and you will get the kind of visibility you want.

What kind of podcasts don’t work, and what press releases are destined to languish on the desks of news editors? Those that offer generic information that anyone can get off a book. (And, when you think about, it were probably taken from the book). Remember, people have dozens of sources for parenting advice, and they won’t waste their time downloading a no-brainer list of colic solutions that they probably had tried already. So before making a podcast, ask yourself if you are tackling an issue or topic that will excite or interest your market.

Another common mistake is to forget the element of credibility. Just because it’s easy to make a podcast doesn’t mean that you should make one ‘on the fly”–work on it, try to secure a good interview or the opinion of an expert, and double check your facts. Not only will it pique the interest of an editor, but it will let your podcasts in a sea of “wanna be’” and help develop your website’s reputation as a source of important content.
by: Philip Nicosia

Visit Podcastblaster for more podcasting tips, podcast software and an extensive podcast directory which makes finding podcasts easy.