The Podcaster

Posts Tagged ‘Communication’

The Irish Medical News has details of research carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) which shows that podcasts can have a significant positive impact (almost 20% increase) on exam performance.  

From our experience the following helps maximise the positive impact for internal and external communication and education:

• Keep them short (10 – 15  minutes)
• Consider multiple voices rather than a ‘lecture’
• Make them interactive (link out to web sites or online/offline resources and tests)
• Integrate with other delivery platforms so part of a multi-media experience
• Consider using them as a ‘learning re-enforcement aid’ by cross referencing to other materials
• If being used for an internal audience consider what edits can be made during recording or in post production to allow an external audince to use it (maximises ROI as almost get ‘two for price of one’!)

Many of our clients are still getting value from podcasts produced a couple of years ago. With a fixed production costs this means that using online marketing (Word of Mouse) the cost-per-listener or viewer for a video podcast declines over time. Some of our clients are now approaching a few pennies per ‘visitor’ which makes them very cost effective.

What is the costs of producing a podcast? That depends on a number of factors but assuming you do not want a famous actor to do the voice-over and you use royalty pre-paid music and not something specially commissioned then it could be a few hundred pounds. The cost compares very favourably to that of producing a direct mail or e-mail campaign or printing a brochure.