By John C. Havens
If you’re thinking that title sounds familiar, I’m glad. I’m borrowing from Michael A. Stelzner and the title of his book, Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged. I’ll customize his advice to help you shift paradigms from the written to the audio medium.
The power of podcasting for marketing is the delivery medium; RSS feeds allow listeners to opt-in so you can send them podcasts again and again. In this way, you could take an hour-long white paper and break it up into six 10-minute episodes.
Now on to capturing listeners and keeping them engaged:
Create Audio White Papers that Stand Out from the Crowd: First off, most people aren’t producing audio white papers (although KnowledgeStorm has recently starting doing so, as well as my podcast consulting firm). Producing anything with an audio component will create curiosity in a listener, which means they’ll click to listen to your message even if they wouldn’t have read it. eMarketer recently released a study that revealed that featuring an audio component in your email newsletter can triple your open rates.
Generate Sustaining, Long-term Sales with Podcasts: Podcasts aren’t just for indies anymore and are creating solid ROI as a PR and communications tool, and the demographic spread is growing. Read this report on the state of podcasting in Canada to learn how Boomers are some of the biggest consumers of podcasts. The stats and trends are similar in the U.S.
Grab Ears With Words: Although there is nothing wrong with reading a white paper, why not maximize the medium and feature multiple speakers, interviews with a narrator and your CEO, plus music and sound effects? Imagine how much more impact your words can have when people hear them delivered from a convention where you got a standing ovation. The roar of the crowd is something you can’t communicate with words.
Soft Sell By Educating Readers: Again, Mike is right on the money here and it’s a lot easier to soft sell when you have a voice behind your words. Meaning two people can read the same copy and one can sound like a used car salesperson while the other is as arresting as Martin Luther King. It’s all in the delivery. Podcasts allow you to inject your personality into your message.
Inject Persuasion Into Your Podcast. I’ll wrap up with this idea and ask you to think of the last time you went to see a really great play or concert. Did performers come out and trip, mumbling their words or did they start off with a bang? Do the same with your audio podcast. Select music that produces excitement and gets adrenaline pumping, or a classy jazz tune that sets the tone for your piece. In essence, you are creating audio branding here for your podcast series (if you’re featuring your white paper as a series) that reflects the branding of your firm. What is the first thing you want a listener to hear? After the music, provide a narrator who introduces the paper if there will be multiple speakers. This person will act as an audio anchor for the listener. Then-weave a story! Newsflash: just because white papers are (typically) didactic in nature doesn’t mean they have to be dry. Captivate your audience and treat the whole paper as if it were a show. Start and end with a bang, weaving themes (your primary messages) that ebb and flow throughout the piece.
And most importantly, add your contact information at the end of your audio white paper or create an actionable step for listeners to visit your website. And that’s it! Get the picture-or the tune?
And if you’re thinking adding music and multiple speakers to a white paper would be cheesy, always remember the seminal aspect of all marketing mediums: your audience. Create a couple of audio white papers that have different tones and send them out to colleagues as a test drive. Odds are they’ll favor the papers that tastefully weave a story while maximizing the medium.
About the Author: John C. Havens is the About.com Guide to Podcasting as well as the founder of Podcast Vision & Voice, a Podcast consultation firm. Beyond his podcast and marketing consultation, John is also a freelance writer and actor.
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