Ron McDaniel had an interesting post yesterday about Podcasting and whether or not they are worth doing. At Quest, we started doing podcasting last year and there was a huge surge to get them done in late Q2 and early Q3, then they fell off dramatically in Q4 and we have none really scheduled for Q1. I think one of the things that our Product Marketing Organization struggles with is that they are not “lead generation” activities and therefor not really worth doing since I am sure most of them are judged in some part by the number of “leads” they bring in through their efforts.
While I understand their take on that, I also am having a hard time in educating them that Podcasting serves a better purpose than to just generate leads. Its all about gaining buzz and providing relative content out to the masses and showing our target audience that we are truly the innovators and educators in our space. I am curious to know if anyone out there has faced a similar issue and what they have done to perhaps educate folks that Podcasting is worthwhile.
Any help would be appreciated.
Rons post can be found at: http://blog.buzzoodle.com/index.php/2007/01/24/is-podcasting-worth-the-effort/
Anony Mous 1:54 pm on January 26, 2007 Permalink |
It’s always challenging justifying the “non-lead-generating” activities marketing does. I work in PR myself, which faces similar issues. Its value is hard to quantify.
The way I justify it is to say that activities like podcasting, analyst relations and contributed articles add value by making the sales process easier. They may not generate a lead, but they make a lead easier to get because a prospect is more likely to click or sign up for something when they’ve seen stuff that gives the vendor credibility. And all the way along the sales cycle, the vendor’s profile and credibility help make the sale happen, give the customer confidence that they’re making the right purchase. You get the idea.
Buzzoodle Ron 4:07 pm on January 26, 2007 Permalink |
That is an excellent point. We also have to educate that Buzz is not sales. It is buzz and may generate leads at some point, and makes it easier to close sales.
I think the difference today is that small businesses can generate big PR and buzz that only big budgets could typically generate in the past. But you still have to be enlightened enough to understand it is a long term strategy that will be hard to measure in the short term. If you do not keep at it, it will certainly fail.