Podcasting: A brilliant network marketing communication tool!

“The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of the people in his or her organization is going to blow the competition away.”

--Walter Wriston

Was Walter Wriston (see above quote) a network marketer? I don’t know, but with that kind of insight I want him on my team.

Imagine creating the exact networking experiences and business building successes you’re wanting by executing your plan with passion and persistence. Imagine gaining the insights, ideas and strategies for your plan by listening to the voices of wise and experienced networkers. Imagine being inspired daily by encouraging words, thought-provoking comments, practical ideas and guidance on important, relevant topics from credible people with real-time experiencce. Also, picture yourself simply recording your own thought gems or training tips and making them easily available as bite-size segments to your team players and associates.

Finally, envision yourself and the important others in your life accessing these powerful thoughts and ideas whenever and wherever you or they want; either directly from a portable iPod-like device or from your desktop computer at your home office.

This experience is everyday reality for millions of people who use and love the power of “podcasting.” Podcasts are simple, highly specific audio and/or video recordings that are automatically downloaded from the Internet to PCs and mobile MP3 players. Have It Your Way Podcasting is a new and versatile way to personalize the distribution of audio and video information. The term Podcast is a blended term, taken from “iPod,” the name of Apple’s unbelievably popular MP3 player and the verb "broadcast." Podcasts are subscribed to by listeners and thereafter automatically downloaded to their personal computer and MP3 device (e.g. Apple iPod).

Podcasts serve up volumes of information segmented into right-sized and selectable episodes for easy and thorough consumption at your convenience. You listen to them (or watch them) when and where you want.

Podcasts let you enhance your commute or your drive from home to and from wherever. They let you exercise your mind while you’re engaged in your physical workout.

You can turn literally turn anytime into insightful, motivational, learning time by easily immersing yourself in the most important personal and professional topics which are of interest to you.

Podcasts allow you to simply manage the flow of content to you from the voices of those you admire, respect and trust. You chose the content, the pace and volume of information you receive.

Ride the Wave The broad acceptance of digital audio devices like the iPod is quickly fueling the demand for digital audio music and spoken-word content.

There are over 100 Million MP3 playing devices in the market already. Apple has sold over 58 million iPods to date and Microsoft has just announced their own device and delivery service named Zune, to be released under the XBox brand. These two companies will accelerate the pace of the feature and pricing race, driving mass acceptance and increasing consumer demand for the devices as well as the content to played on them.

The Zune is rumored to support WiFi Wireless Networking capabilities, allowing it to connect to the Internet and receive downloaded content whenever it is within the range of any “WiFi Hotspot.” WiFi Hotspots are now found in a growing number of airports, public libraries, hotels, office zones, popular coffee shops, bookstores, colleges, work areas and personal residences.

Cell phones are also fast becoming a popular MP3 playing device, capable of receiving and playing podcasts. With their wireless connectivity and the expanding capacity of memory add-in cards (soon to reach 4 GBs) the common cell phone will soon be a natural and widely used device for podcast listening.

Reach Your Goals Successful distributors from leading Network Marketing companies look for more effective and creative ways to: 1) sell value by linking product knowledge to customer’s real needs and wants, 2) approach new people to gain increasing confidence in recruiting skills, 3) enhance application skills, 4) improve their leadership and management skills to mentor, coach and retain distributors.

A Utah-based company, Podango, has emerged as an innovative leader in the world of podcasting. Podango’s primary innovation is that they have taken podcasting to an entirely new level of effectiveness through the establishment of Podcast Stations.

Interestingly, Podango’s stated mission aligns very naturally with basic network marketing goals. It reads, “We create measurable, differentiating advantages for communities, organizations, and people by improving their communication, learning, knowledge sharing and retention. We will win by enabling stronger trust connections between people and helping them engage in richer, more focused and authentic conversations.”

“We see the Network Marketing Industry as a perfect fit for podcasting and podcast stations,” says Podango President, Doug Smith. “Each station is operated by a Station Director who organizes well managed collections of podcasts that promote personal development, self motivation, continuous learning, industry awareness and knowledge, company and product specific education.”

Listeners rely upon their Station Director to sift through all the podcasts, sorting them and prioritizing them into a simple, tailored topical offering.

“It is like shopping at a mall where everything is custom fit, color coordinated and designed specifically for the consumer,” Smith claims. “The only size in the store is your size. Think of the personal value of information that is sifted, sorted, prioritized, and in some cases summarized to meet your individual needs and wants. This is one of the key podcasting activities of Podango go!Station Directors.”

Smith says Network Marketing Station Directors deliberately strive to keep their Network Marketing subscribers “On Top of Their Game” by organizing, managing and making vitally important podcasts easily available to them to help them “sell more product, recruit more distributors, and retain them long term.”

Beyond making podcasts available, Station Directors facilitate conversations among the network marketers they serve by moderating dialogues between top performers, and conducting interviews with company leaders, product formulators, business development trainers, support services peronnel and product users. Smith says, “The Station Director’s primary purpose and intent is to create a community of well informed, better trained and self-motivated distributors who are prepared to contribute their experiences, insights, desire and skills to that of other distributors. The result is an increasing pool of collective knowledge and shared experience which becomes a powerful and pervasive influence on the individuals served and the communities helped. The entire marketplace is enhanced“ Get Personal Podcasting, like blogging, takes a more informal, personable and conversational approach to idea sharing, much like a radio talk show.

The most effective podcasts achieve a connection which is more personal, intimate, inneractive and meaningful to listeners. The reason is simple: these formats are more wide open, spontaneous and consumer friendly. This kind of spontenaity is preferred to a scripted, rehearsed and flawlessly edited media event. Interview-based podcasts allow the podcaster to interact with the guest speaker by asking questions and setting up scenarios to unveil meaningful insights, or valubale recollections of shaping experiences and/or impactful turning points.

The best podcasters seek to find and hear the story behind the story; drawing out memorable encounters with people, places and things. The personal antecdotes and testimonials which emerge add to the lively, interactive experience.

Listeners typically sign up for a podcast channel to automatically receive a series of episodes scheduled for release whenever new podcast material is available.

Currently there are more than 55,000 podcasts available in the market and new ones are popping up daily on a very broad variety of specific topics. Most podcasts are free to the listener, supported by advertising and sponsorship dollars. Many companies are beginning to see the serious value of podcasting as a means of reaching highly targeted niche market audiences.

Some of the most effecive podcasts can be both informational and entertaining. They can include the company’s best product descriptions, business development process, compensation plan explanations and next event announcements and promotions.

For Network Marketers, podcast content can be segmented into episodes focused on specific business building skills, market trends, needs and objectives. Podcasters convey a growing range of information as they post their podcasts for consumption by customers or distributors who are attracted to the specific company, the product or the income-earning opportunity. New distributors and customers appreciate the ability to re- listen to and review podcasts containing relevant company, product and opportunity information.

Network Marketing companies can segment and make available their national, regional or local conference messages, new product introductions, specific company announcements and individual distributor recognition spots. Podcasts are a great way for company executives, directors and managers to engage and connect with distributors, prospects and customers.

This kind of direct connect communication is very personable and appealing. It provides a direct, more intimate connection between the company and all levels of distributors.

The Network Marketers who listen to these podcasts enjoy the convenience of having their laptop and/or iPod automatically synced and populated with the specific collection of episodes most important and relevant to their needs and wants.

Listeners to Podango stations are allowed to to customize and prioritize their podcast delivery list so they can receive the them when it is most convenient to them.

“This is time-shifted content consumption,” says Smith. “If you use TiVo or a Tivo-type Recording digital recording device to record TV, you get the picture. If you can’t make the conference call or webinar, not to worry. It will arrive soon on your iPod and you can listen at your pleasure. Then, if you have questions, you can leave a related comment.

As you think about how podcast can help your Network Marketing efforts, it is important to remember that any podcast does not have to be listened to or viewed at the time it is recorded. This time shifted content aspect of podcasts is extremely valuable to every listener, even if they come along later!

Distributors using systems like Podango’s will spend less time looking for great quality podcasts and more time actually experiencing them, learning from them, internalizing them and applying the learning. The management tools make it so easy to tailor delivery sequence and timing of podcasts to each listener’s unique needs.

Summarizing the Advantages In summary, podcast systems like Podango’s podcasting stations offer advantages that include:

• Simple, tailored, targeted information delivery • A trusted guide (Station Director) that sifts, sorts and prioritizes

podcasts to specific needs

• Moderated services for simple community involvement and contribution • Consistently high-quality content • The ability to “castback” to the podcaster, enabling rich community conversations • Station Directors are trained to value listeners' time and hold their attention better.

Podcasting is great way to do as Walter Wriston suggested and “blow the competition away” by “harnessing the collective genius of the people in [your] organization.”

LeRoy Maughan's passion for BEING flows from a universal truth taught to him through the exemplary actions of his grandmother Mary Jones Rigby. “My Child,” she taught: “I admonish you to study life that you might see, hear, question, evaluate, understand, know, love and speak. For the glory of God is intelligence and the power of God is love.”

LeRoy mentors company leaders and entrepreneurs, facilitating learning experiences and skill-practice sessions aimed at deliberately creating desired results by abiding by the precepts of choice, awareness, intent, attraction and influence.

He has worked with six best selling authors; delivered life-changing events in every major city in the USA; lead training meetings internationally in Canada, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

He is the Business Development Consultant to the Direct Selling and Network Marketing industry for Podango. LeRoy thoroughly believes the Podango process provides the most complete and powerful communication exchange portal in the world to networkers and the communities they serve. LeRoy can be reached at 801-785-9329 or by email at Leroy@podango.com For more information about Podcasting in general and Podango email Podango at info@podango.com.