Can Podcasting Help Your Brand?

Ever since my chat with Soundcloud founder, Alex Ljung, I've been thinking again about the value of podcasts as a way of marketing. You can get marketing value from podcasts in two ways:

1. By sponsoring a podcast that targets a similar audience to yours, and/or 
2. By hosting your own podcast. 

Many podcasts can be sponsored quite inexpensively. The big challenge, typically, is getting verified audience demographics. There are a few companies that specialize in this, such as Podtrack and Blubrry. I'm just starting to explore what they have to offer for you, and will report back soon. 

The benefit, of course, is that podcast audiences are typically quite engaged with what they are listening to, so if the audience demographic matches yours, this can be a very effective place to advertise. 

As to option 2, hosting your own podcast, that's a lot of work. For most small businesses and non-profits you are better off tapping in to someone else's podcast, as a guest and/or as a sponsor.