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How to create a marketing plan for your small business - build a brand, target customers and set prices that will maximise sales.

The internet has transformed business marketing. No matter what you do, the internet is likely to be at the heart of your marketing strategy.

Social media is firmly established as a marketing tool. Having a presence opens up new lines of communication with existing and potential customers.

Good advertising puts the right marketing message in front of the right people at the right time, raising awareness of your business.

Customer care is at the heart of all successful companies. It can help you develop customer loyalty and improve relationships with your customers.

Sales bring in the money that enables your business to survive and grow. Your sales strategy will be driven by your sales objectives.

Market research exists to guide your business decisions by giving you insight into your market, competitors, products, marketing and your customers.

Exhibitions and events are valuable for businesses because they allow face-to-face communication and offer opportunities for networking.

Top five benefits of podcasting for business

Podcasting has been around for a while, but it seems to have gained significant traction over the last couple of years. Speak to any friend, colleague or family member and they probably have their own favourite podcast show.

In fact, it's thought that Apple devices now have access to over 1.9 million podcasts.

A podcast might be the missing piece of the jigsaw in your business' marketing strategy.

But we appreciate you might need some convincing, so we've put together the top five benefits of podcasting for businesses.

Putting yourself in the podcast mindset

Before we get onto the benefits, it's important to set some expectations.

Podcasting is a form of content marketing which takes time to deliver results. There's no silver bullet and no overnight success; it's about gradually building an audience and winning their trust.

If you stick at it, you'll retain their attention for longer and find numerous opportunities to increase the latent value contained within your audience.

Here are the five benefits of podcasting for your business.

1. Podcasting gives your business a voice

Sure, you've got a website, some brochures, and a Twitter account, but can you confidently say that your business has a voice as a result?

By starting a podcast, you'll begin to create a consistent narrative around your brand. Whether you host the show yourself or someone does it for you, the podcast will become the voice of your business, and make it far more relatable to your audience.

This is the best way to win followers and encourage them to trust your brand.

2. Creating a podcast is easier than you think

Podcasting isn't the complicated beast some might have you believe. All you need is a USB microphone, free recording software and a topic to discuss. If you want to make life even easier, you can sign up to a service like RiversideFM which provides support for every element of a podcast, from recording to editing and publishing.

If you don't want to go down the full service route of a platform like RiversideFM, services like Captivate, PodBean, and Buzzsprout offer low-cost options that will take care of all of the hosting and publication duties.

If you're holding back starting a podcast because you think it's too complicated, think again!

3. Podcasts are an engaging form of content marketing

A survey of 300,000 podcast listeners discovered that 63% of them had bought something a host had promoted.

This is why podcasting is a highly cost-effective method of increasing engagement with your content marketing campaigns. Indeed, if you're a regular podcast listener yourself, you're probably acutely aware that you listen to them for lengthy periods of time.

The same can't be said for blog posts and social media posts which typically get far less engagement from audiences versus podcasts.

4. Podcasting helps you tap into other audiences

Podcasts are at their best when they feature a variety of guests, and as the host of the podcast, that represents a significant opportunity to increase your reach.

It's likely that every guest who appears on your podcast will have an audience of their own. This enables you to tap into their following by bringing them along for the ride.

When the guest shares the podcast after publishing, it'll immediately be exposed to a much wider market, therefore placing more attention on your brand with minimal effort from you.

5. Improve your public speaking and presentation skills

Public speaking is a great skill to have, and there are so many tasks and situations at work where presentations skills are required.

Did you know that hosting a podcast is one of the best ways to develop those skills? What's more, it enables you to do so in your own time.

You won't get it right first time, and it'll take a few episodes to find your rhythm, but once you do, your new skills will filter through into any form of public speaking or presentation work you undertake. The difference in your confidence and influence will be noticeable.

Wrapping up

We hope these benefits of podcasting for business have got you excited about starting your own.

There really is no excuse not to and it's all about experimentation. So, what are you waiting for?

Written by Mark Ellis.

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