When promoting your Podcast, the audio promo is your friend. There are many reasons for this. The one reason that is not obvious to new Podcasters is that many Podcasters like to promote other Podcasts during their own show as a way of helping others, and to ensure that they have a variety of content in their show.

Promos are meant to sell a host and Podcast to the listener in the most concise and entertaining way and in the shortest amount of time possible. I find that many promos aren’t well thought out and fail to achieve this goal.

Here is my guide for preparing your Podcast promo.

DO

• Do… capture the essence of your show.
• Do… be creative and entertaining - if possible, avoid reciting what your Podcast is about.
• Do… include your show name and URL - twice if possible (beginning and end).
• Do… be sure your audio levels are consistent and that every element of the promo can be easily understood.
• Do… keep it short.

DON’T

• Don’t… sell your show as something it is not.
• Don’t… run background music or constant background audio through the promo, particularly if the background is manic (a lot of people don’t know how to properly mix background audio so that it doesn’t take over the promo; and, if someone wants to use the promo and needs it to fit in a particular time allocation, it makes editing it near impossible without some sort of damage to the audio).
• Don’t… use copyrighted content that will discourage others from playing your promo.
• Don’t… use a flat delivery.
• Don’t… make your promo too temporal (unless your Podcast is event specific).

If you can hit every one of these points and do it in 60 seconds or less, you should be getting paid to make promos.

Who says the CBC isn’t agile?

Long known for it’s award winning radio and television programs, and a recently expanded catalog of 23 Podcast programs, the CBC has launched an official (not officious) blog, www.insidethecbc.com.

This could be a new age of influence for the CBC; a chance to be heard by, and hear (hopefully to listen to), the community at large.  If done right, this blog could change the way decision makers within the CBC and the government look at, and fund, the corporation.

I was a panelist on the subject of The Intersection of Radio and Podcasting at the Corporate Podcast Summit USA 2006. During that session, I regularly mentioned the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and National Public Radio (NPR). Two days later, a number of CBC producers and hosts attended (and even presented at) the Podcasters Across Borders meetup and conference. This latter point has inspired some lively discussions in Podcasts and in person for the last few months - particularly during the last week.

There are a number of issues at play here. In this post, I will map some of them out and highlight some points for consideration.

PODCASTERS CAN LEARN FROM RADIO

The spirit of Podcasting is that it is not (or at least does not have to be) bound by traditional rules of radio production. In fact, many independent Podcasts enjoy significant subscribership due to the very fact that they are not radio (no theme song, no seasoned host, no pacing, and so on) and Podcasters that are “anti-radio” celebrate their decision. Whether the traditional programming devices become central to a Podcast or treated as an electric fence to be avoided, they exist and can be considered based on the individual’s own taste.

RADIO CAN LEARN FROM PODCASTERS

During PAB2006, Shelagh Rogers and Tod Maffin evangelized that one of Podcasting’s greatest qualities is that hosts are allowed to incorporate themselves into their programs. In radio, there is no room for the emotions and thoughts of the host; in Podcasting, it is the genuine delivery of the message that establishes a singular connection between the listener and the host, even though they do not exist in the same time or space. The attention is shifted from the content and technical presentation, to the interest and passion of the host.

PUBLIC VS. COMMERCIAL RADIO

When I talk about terrestrial radio experimenting with or adopting Podcast technology, I typically talk about Public radio. Perhaps because they dislike or feel threatened by Public radio, this has raised the hackles of some Podcasters. Why do I use the Public radio example? Because it has at least two advantages over commercial radio where Podcasting is concerned:

• Public radio generally creates its own content, or contracts for it, and therefore owns the rights for broadcast and distribution. Corporate radio tends to use a lot of “licensed” content (such as music).  Where Internet licensing is available, it is prohibitively expensive at this time.
• Public radio is typically not driven by a formulaic programming model that is designed by a central body to appeal to a very specific niche in a local market. Public radio programming is created by people with the authority to develop and produce their own content as long as it fits the spirit of a larger vision.  They have the freedom to reuse content from the airwaves, as well as the freedom to create Podcast-specific content.

RADIO RETHINKING ITSELF

Radio stations face a lot of challenges in the age of Web 2.0 with of its built-in social media capabilities.  Producers and hosts will have to work hard to remain competitive, keep existing listeners and attract new ones.  They know this.  That is why these people are experimenting with the possibilities of Podcasting, and becoming part of the culture as well.

The technology that threatens radio, could be the technology that reinvents it.

I was just introduced to the Nokia N91, a brand new cellular phone with native features including phone, email, web browsing, calendar, contact lists, camera/video, FM radio, MP3 player (with high quality stereo output), WiFi, OPML files and RSS feeds. That’s right, this phone has a built in Podcast aggregator, and a 4Gb hard disk to store all of your favourite shows. You can retrieve them through normal cellular phone services, WiFi or a USB2 connection to your computer.

Nokia announced the release of the Podcasting application today. All of the N Series phones have the same core features.

Mat Zucker (Executive Creative Director, R/GA) explained yesterday that, in an effort to protect their brand and corporate image, Johnson & Johnson’s legal team introduced delays and additional costs as they scrutinized the content of Acuvue’s official Podcast - a program hosted by hired teenagers, Heather and Jonelle.

While Mat did not disclose any figures, I would guess that legal costs accounted for a majority of the overall Podcast budget, and may have introduced costs that were not included in the original budget.

James Harris, ListenShare’s CEO and Chief Storyteller, delivered a great talk about strategies for corporate Podcasters earlier today at the Corporate Podcasting Summit. In his presentation, James explained four key points for consideration:

• Be an active part of the community
• “Open source” your efforts
• Be green, repurpose everything
• Be clever and smart, never lazy

Creativity is the key to being green, telling the stories that have already been written.

“What’s in all of those filing cabinets”, Harris challenged. “Find the ‘Fred Sanford’ of your company.”

Harris’ point serves as a great start for corporate Podcasters. In a culture that demands short delivery times, using what you already have at your fingertips will keep your production times short and will ensure that you have a wealth of content for your Podcast.

The Podcasting Legal Guide (Vogele, Garlick, The Berkman Center) was published on the Creative Commons site on May 8.

While the document is based on U.S. laws, it offers some great insight on the legal issues surrounding Podcasting. Many of these issues will be explored from the Canadian slant on this site.

PublicBroadcasting.ca has launched a new initiative called Shuffle. The core of the concept is that Podcasting technology is used to push new Canadian music, provided by its creators or their representatives, to those who are looking for music. As the site says, “Let music shop for you”.

Among the unique qualities of this service is its respect of the rights of music creators and copyright holders. The website clearly states “Just because a song is on shuffle, does not mean you can do as you please with it. Nothing is expressed or implied about licensing or copyright status when a song is placed on shuffle”.

While Shuffle may be the new model of consumption for music seekers, there are likely to be challenges in enforcing restrictions on the types of content supplied, and its sources. As with many new concepts, adoption by both suppliers and consumers will be the first hurdle to overcome.

I recently received an email inviting me to add my Podcast to Voice Indigo, a service that delivers Podcasts to cell phones.  Their website boasts that there are 1.7 billion mobile phone users, “the largest potential media audience in history”.

It’s easy to set yourself up with the service.  Create an account, submit the RSS link, then incorporate the button-generating code in your website.

As with all online services, there are terms and conditions to consider.  Number 4 requires that the button have an empty boundary of 10 pixels.  The standout is:

5) […] You may not use the Button on a site that violates any law or regulation.

So, if your website or Podcast includes any unlicensed content including music, movies and books, this is not the service for you - notwithstanding the fact that you are putting yourself at legal risk anyway!

One thing I did notice as being a bit sloppy on Voice Inidgo’s part is their user registration page, which asks for a password, is not SSL-encrypted.  Enter at your own risk!