Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Leverage Your Podcast Interview

Here's a typical scenario editors and publishers like me often encounter.

A PR person calls calls or emails to tell me about his or her client's new product or service. I explain that I usually don't publish press releases in Pharma Marketing News, my monthly electronic newsletter. I suggest that the client Sponsor a Forum dedicated to the company. The client will then be able to self-publish (post) all their press releases, white papers, etc.
What more can I do? My readers want me to inform them about new products and services that may help them in their jobs. Also, I want PR people to be successful, especially if it helps me and my readers. Therefore, I agree to a phone interview.

If the fit is good and the founder or CEO knows his or her stuff, I usually invite him or her to be a guest on the Pharma Marketing Talk live BlogTalkRadio Show and podcast (see "Pharmaguy Interviews: More Than 15 Minutes of Fame!"). I've done over 200 of these shows. You can find a complete list of archived shows (podcasts) here.

Usually, the show is part of a larger campaign such as an "Advertorial" (for more information about that see "Promoting Your Products & Services" and download this pdf file).

A fair amount of promotion is included with each show I produce. First, there's the show information page, which includes the title of the show, brief description, guest bios and photos, date and time of the live show, background information, list of questions or topics to be discussed, and instructions for participating LIVE by phone or online. After the show, this page includes a "widget" that automatically plays the podcast when the page is viewed. There's also a link to the BlogTalkRadio page where you can hear it. See "Solving the Medical Marketing Blues" as an example.

Pharma Marketing Talk (PMT) shows may be listed in the online Conference Calendar and in the Conference Calendar Update sent by email every two weeks to subscribers of Pharma Marketing News. I also notify my thousands of Twitter followers about the show. The show information is also posted in the Pharma Marketing Talk Forum under Events.

Most of this promotion occurs before the live show. In this busy world, however, who has time to listen live, especially in the middle of the afternoon when most of my shows air. Of course, I could change the air time to make it more convenient for live listens, but it's still not likely that more than a few dozen will show up. [BTW, people can listen live online via the Web or call in to listen and/or ask questions live during the show.]

Most people listen to the podcast audio archive of the show, which is kept online indefinitely and is available to download (mp3 format) for listening on mp3 devices such as the iPhone or iPad. The promotional page also stays on the PMN site indefinitely and there is a list of show archives available as well. This makes it easy for PMN visitors to find shows and for the shows to be indexed by search engines.

If you search for "Sanofi-Aventis facebook" on Google, for example, you will find the PMT podcast interview of Dennis Urbaniak, VP US Diabetes at sanofi-aventis, in the #2 position with a link to "What Sanofi-Aventis Learned from Its FaceBook Experience & What the Experts Recommend It Do Now." The #1 link, BTW, is the Pharma Marketing Blog post "Disgruntled Patient Shuts Down sanofi-aventis Facebook Page," which explains the issue being discussed.

As a result of all this promotion, the Sanofi-Aventis facebook podcast has been listened to over 1,300 times since it was recorded. The PMT show had 130 live listeners via the web and 37 people calling in.

Obviously, not every show is as popular as this. On average, podcasts of shows that aired in 2010 have been listened to 486 times (aver live listeners = 19; aver call ins = 9).

[For an update, see Pharma Marketing Talk: 2012 Stats and Top 5 Shows]


As time goes on, this number will increase.

The question is How can you increase the number of listeners to YOUR podcast? Here are a few suggestions:
  • You can promote the podcast to your clients via email and/or via your website. You can place the BlogTalkRadio widget -- the same widget I use -- on a page on your website and even in your HTML-formatted email messages! It costs you nothing to link to the podcast or download the widget.
  • If you order an Advertorial Promotion Package (see "Promoting Your Products & Services" and download this pdf file), a podcast may be included. The article will include a box ad about the podcast with a direct link to the podcast promo page on PMN.
  • A sidebar ad can also be included in a reprint of a relevant Pharma Marketing News article reprint (past or upcoming article) that includes a link to the podcast.
  • Order a text transcript of the interview. You can then easily create a summary of the discussion to post on your website or as a press release.
If you are interested learning more about the Pharma Marketing Talk show and how to leverage the podcast archive to reach more PMN subscribers, please Contact Us and we will be very happy to discuss the details and get you a quotation/insertion order.