Although Eric Schwartzman doesn’t make money directly from his podcasting, the indirect return on his efforts can be counted in financial terms all the same. Let’s see how one podcast host has succeeded, the soft skills needed in podcasting, how to sell your company on the idea of adding podcasting to its Web sites and where you can get training to develop a podcast series.
Schwartzman, chairman of iPressroom Corp. and managing director of Los Angeles PR firm, Schwartzman & Associates, is the host of “On the Record…Online,” a podcast that explores how technology is changing media news and entertainment. The weekly podcast, which runs interviews with journalists and editors from mainstream media, has been downloaded nearly 200,000 times since its launch in April 2005.
“The podcast affords me a level of access to opinion makers and thought leaders that I wouldn’t normally have,” said Schwartzman. “What opportunity would I have to engage [David Greising], the business bureau chief of The Chicago Tribune, in a discussion about what Sam Zell’s acquisition of [his paper] means for the LA Times? Because I’m producing the podcast and I have the opportunity to interview them, I’m afforded that access.”
As he becomes “relevant in the conversation” about new media, Schwartzman said, “I’m hopefully more sought out by potential clients.”
He can point to measurable success on that last point. According to Schwartzman, by the end of the first quarter 2007, sales at his two companies had surpassed the entire year’s sales for both firms for 2006. While he doesn’t make money directly from his own podcast series, his firms earn fees by creating and producing podcasts for clients.
The Soft Skills of Creating a Podcast
Schwartzman’s podcasting team includes two associate producers and two audio engineers. One of the associate producers also acts as a “booker,” the person who books guests. That requires “just being persistent,” said Schwartzman. “It could take a year to get a certain person to say, yes.”
Once a guest has been booked, a brief is prepared. This backgrounder lays out all the important milestones that have occurred in that person’s career. During a production meeting, the team discusses what types of subjects to cover that would be most interesting to listeners. “We ask ourselves, how can we get the interviewee…passionate and invested in the dialog so we get a great interview?” said Schwartzman.
From that meeting, a list of questions is created — not as a script, but as a guide to the interview. “If the interviewee takes discussion in different direction, we’ll certainly follow that,” he said. Once the interview has been recorded, the show’s introduction and ending are added and the show is released. Schwartzman said the interviews aren’t edited.
If you’re wondering if you have the voice for podcasting, that’s irrelevant. “The most important thing you’re looking for,” he said, “is likeability. The person has to be likeable.”
The hardest part of creating a podcast is learning to relax, he said. “If you’re really concerned about keeping the conversation lively, it’s easy to cut people off and maybe to miss a nugget of truth that they might reveal.”
How to Sell a Company on a Podcast
If you believe you have the qualities that it takes to do podcasting for your company or a client, be prepared to build a business case. Schwartzman said a company’s investment in podcasting will have to go up against allocations made for the more traditional marketing: direct mail, advertising, tradeshows, etc.
“Building a business case to win executive or client buy-in involves taking a look at what the objectives are, asking yourself what unique expertise the organization has that could be showcased in a podcast and what unique expertise [there is] that’s not getting out by conventional channels,” said Schwartzman.
Examples of Success
Through his companies, Schwartzman advises others on podcasting, among them, the Los Angeles Opera and SoftWorks, two widely different organizations.
The LA Opera needed a strategy for attracting “the next generation of opera aficionados.” “Behind the Curtain” interviews directors, performers and others behind the scenes at the opera. Since it launched, said Schwartzman, ticket sales have gone up 25 percent and the podcasts are consumed by 10 times the number of available seats for each production.
SolidWorks, which creates and sells software for design, analysis and product data management, offers a frequent podcast that interviews designers who use its products.
Crash Courses in Becoming an Expert Podcaster
Besides studying podcasts from one’s favorite hosts (Schwartzman’s includes Ted Talks, Grammar Girl, and 60-Second Science), he recommends Podcast Expo, taking place in September in Ontario, California. Schwartzman also teaches a two-day new media bootcamp (the next one comes up in September in New York) that drills down on the tactical execution of Web 2.0 tools, including podcasting.
Have you figured out a way to sell your company on podcasting or monetizing your shows? We’d like to hear about it.
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