Connect your business with customers with awesome web content, social media & videos

Chris Jensen has a simple idea that is really tough for many of us to pull off well.

“When 60 seconds just isn’t enough, podcasting is the innovative way to be heard,” Chris says.

He ought to know. He’s worked in radio and TV for years, and his business at Audio Concepts in Bath, Ohio, is to help businesses sound their best.

Most of the formats and media in which Chris and his business customers traditionally work require quick hits and bites — 30 seconds on a radio station here; 60 seconds for a television commercial there. I don’t know about you but it’s hard work to nail my message in such short amounts of time. That’s why Chris and broadcast professionals like him are in such demand.

But he also knows that businesses have a need to talk longer than radio and TV allow. A tire dealer can tell you what’s on sale this weekend in 30 seconds. The tire dealer needs more time to explain how proper tire inflation can save you money on fuel and improve your safety. It’s in this longer message, whether from the tire dealer, or a local dentist, a commercial property realtor, or the bartender at your favorite watering hole, that businesses can find ways to share information with customers and help them solve a problem.

“Painting a picture for your listener is what it’s all about,” Chris says.

Words on a sales brochure or a website, for that matter, often are just not enough. Not compared to the power of human voice, that expert sound of the business, give tips, advice, insights and best practices that customers can listen to and learn from — when you make yourself available online and on demand when the customers decide they’re ready to listen.

Here’s the latest in the Podcast for Professionals series from Chris and  Audio Concepts. He and I discussed ways businesses are adding social media to their marketing plans. Chris especially wanted to know more about how a business should choose which of the many social websites and tools to use, which ones are most effective. The answers took 9 minutes and 10 seconds. Can’t do that on radio or TV. And I want help to talk that long without boring you to tears. That’s the power of a podcast well produced by folks like Chris who know how to make a business hit the right pitch.

And, unlike traditional broadcast media, with podcasts and sharing on your business website, blog or social media profiles, you can ask your customers to respond, to ask more questions, to talk back. Like this:

Listen when you’re ready, and let me know if you agree with my recommendations to Chris.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Business, Customers, Facebook, Podcasts, Social Media, Video, You Tube. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.