Give at least three examples of how podcasts could replace more traditional message formats in business
A podcast by definition is a live or recorded audio file which is availed on the internet for access by the target audience. The target audience may listen to a podcast for free or by paying a subscription fee which grants them the privilege to download such files (Jackson and Ahuja, 2016). With personal computers, media players, and smartphones becoming prevalent, businesses administrators increasingly realize opportunities for maximizing the potential competitive advantages podcasts may have over traditional message formats. In fact, (Abbott, 2014) suggests that podcasts could ultimately replace such formats as an alternative approach to corporate content marketing, as a medium of promoting corporate functions, and due to their adaptability.
Podcasts are a significant alternative messaging approach in content marketing which traditionally uses printed media or online publications such as blogs and e-magazines. The persistent limitation of such press is that the regular presence of visual distractions limits their effectiveness in delivering marketing messages. For instance, Abbott (2014) recognizes that the over-commercialized published media includes excessive volumes of adverts for products and services that often distract the reader’s visual attention. Podcasts, on the other hand, are devoid of the limitation due to their exclusive orientation to audio messages. Businesses could hence take advantage of podcast messaging format by crafting audio content with the audience in mind to ensure that they perceive only the material which they intend to market. In the long-term, businesses using podcasts as an alternative message format realize the various benefits of implementing effective content marketing campaigns (Abbott, 2014).
Podcasts could also replace the more traditional message formats in business due to their adaptability (Abbott, 2014). Whereas published message formats use a combination of permanent text and images, podcasts are unique in that they are not necessarily inflexible. The speaker in a live podcast, in particular, can modify the content to suit the messaging needs of the business whenever the need arises. The characteristic feature hence implies that business messages conveyed in the audio format are less prone to errors. In fact, the speaker can readily correct mistakes as and when they realize mistakes. Such opportunities for rectifying messages are not available for the otherwise traditional message format due to their permanence (Abbott, 2014). Also, the adaptive characteristic also implies that the speaker can implement invoke the power of verbalized rhetoric which Aguayo (2016) observes is more efficient as compared to rhetoric embodied in printed business messages.
Lastly, podcasts could replace traditional message formats because of the relatively low costs of promoting corporate functions. For one, business could avail a single copy of recorded audio or link for streaming to reach a sizable audience. Users of internet-enabled devices can stream live podcast or download the audio message at their convenience. In the process, they incur the costs of discovering the business message by themselves since they are responsible for financing the process of discovering information. Business could hence limit the costs of promoting corporate function by saving the resources that they otherwise spend on delivering the more expensive traditional message formats to potential customers (Abbott, 2014).
Overall, podcasts offer various advantages that render them a suitable replacement to the traditional message printed media and online publications. Podcasts are more useful as media for conveying content marketing, promoting corporate functions, and are flexible. Businesses which adopt podcast messaging could indeed realize significant competitive advantages, especially on cost savings.
References
Abbott, A. (2014). Incorporating New Areas of Business into Business Language Studies: Social Media Marketing. Global Business Languages, 19(1), 6.
Aguayo, A. J. (2016). The Bodies That Push the Buttons Matter: Vernacular Digital Rhetoric as a Form of Communicative Agency. Enculturation, 23.
Jackson, G., " Ahuja, V. (2016). Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the marketing mix. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 170-186.
