BtoB Podcasts Have Potential

The July 10th issue of BtoBonline.com reports on a KnowledgeStorm/Universal McCann survey that says that 55% of respondents who currently receive information in the form of a white paper or analyst report would prefer to consume it as a podcast.  Yet, few BtoB marketers have experimented with the medium. 

I'm not sure why marketers are reluctant to test this; consumer marketers have embraced the medium.  I think BtoB marketers think that white papers must be dry and boring to have credibility.  Check yourself if you believe this.  Nothing inherently boring and tedious to read will trump an interesting well presented audio. 

The key here is creating something that is not a replica of the white paper.  For example, don't have someone read the white paper into a microphone and expect great results.  You need to work at creating something that holds the listener's attention.  Perhaps it's laziness.  It's very easy to keep circulating the same white papers year in and year out.  Experiment, try a podcast and see what happens.

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