CorpComms Magazine

When Russell Cleveland, an American fund manager, decided he needed more face-to-face time with his British investors, he found that making a series of vodcasts (video podcasts) would be the fastest and most efficient way.

Although Cleveland runs his specialist investment trust, Renaissance, from Texas, it is listed on the London stock exchange and most of its investors are in the UK.

'We felt we could make sure his views could be brought to a wider audience by using video,' says his adviser at Lansons Communications, director Henrietta Guthrie. 'As time was limited when he was over here, we also felt this would make maximum use of the time we had. He comes across well and is a good performer.'

Cleveland made three vodcasts based around the theme of President Barack Obama's first 100 days, with one focusing on why he believes China will lead the way out of global recession.

These were put out as part of a multimedia press release, and were picked up by Citywire, an online resource for people with money to invest, and whatinvestment. Citywire received more than 1,500 views while whatinvestment ran the vodcasts alongside a profile piece about Cleveland.

'We also did social media networking to sweep up others who might not have seen it through Citywire, then linked it to forums and blogs we felt were appropriate,' says Christian Mahne, head of Lansons Live, the multimedia production and intelligence arm of Lansons.

As a result, the first vodcast of Cleveland was viewed 687 times, including 52 views by media and more than 600 visits from public websites. More than 20 online journalists from organisations including the Times, CNN and the Financial Times looked at the content. The multimedia release itself was picked up by more than 150 sites, including Yahoo, AOL Money and MSN Money.

ATTENTION GRABBING

Cleveland was clearly talking about themes that interested him and was not making a sales pitch. 'The content did as well as it did because of the editorially rigorous approach behind it,' says Mahne. 'It needed to be the sort of interview you'd expect to see from a news group. Because it was, it ran 'as is' on some of the most respected financial intermediaries' sites around and played well with respective stakeholders.'

'In the days of so much information being available all the time, if you can have something visual, you can provide a much better idea and feel for something,' adds Guthrie. 'The alternative is just to send them the report and accounts, but this is more compelling - it is done as part of a mix.'

Vodcasts are the natural progression from podcasts - downloadable audio content, now transformed to downloadable video content, usually appearing as a series. Both can go a long way to improving brand awareness if used well.

Martin Bamford's family-run financial advice business, Informed Choice, has become one of the UK's better-known and oft-quoted money expert's through Bamford's determined use of podcasting.

He has been podcasting since 2005 - the equivalent of the dark ages, when podcasts were for geeks with exceptional technical know-how. Bamford started recording a series of commentaries about newsworthy financial issues for his clients. Today he uses his iPhone to record an 'audioboo' when the mood takes him - the audio equivalent of a Twitter, which is automatically downloaded to Twitter and published to all Bamford's followers. He has accrued over 1,000 followers in less than 12 months, and has also become a commentator for Citywire's Advisercam - a series of vodcasts from financial advisers.

'There was no real mainstream audience for our podcasts when I first started doing them,' says Bamford who also posts his podcasts on his own blog as well as to other networking sites. 'But now that the BBC has supported podcasting so much with downloadable radio programmes, there is a much more mainstream audience for them.

'People increasingly watch the programmes they want to see and listen to the radio on the BBC's iPlayer now when it is convenient for them, rather than when the programmes are broadcast - there has been a big shift in lifestyle and this new mainstream audience for podcasting is a result of that lifestyle shift.'

BROADER AUDIENCE

Apart from promoting Informed Choice as a brand - Bamford says he is 'continually amazed at the growth of social media' which has allowed the firm to reach a much wider audience that it otherwise would - the podcasts enable him to form a much more intimate link with his audience.

It is this connection which can prove so valuable for podcasters needing to reach stakeholders. A greater sense of intimacy can be built up where there is a series of pod or vodcasts - something people can return to time and time again.

Russell Goldsmith, digital media director at Markettiers4DC, says: 'The most successful podcasts we do are ones where there is regular content as people are buying into something they expect to download often. It is like building a community.' He has certainly found this to be the case with the TV programmes about successful small businesses that Markettiers makes for the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), and which they release as vodcasts to anyone signing up for their feed. The programmes are designed to provide advice and inspire in the current difficult economic climate.

'You are talking directly to your audience,' says Goldsmith. 'You have got x hundred people on an RSS feed, so you know you are talking directly to them. There are also no Ofcom regulations - you can produce a podcast about anything you want, but you couldn't do that on the radio. Therefore, you have more flexibility and you are in control of the content and how it is delivered.'

The content of a carefully constructed vodcast can also be much more compelling for your audience than a piece of corporate literature. 'You can make a communication more like something people are used to seeing by, for example, creating a news programme, telling a story,' says Andrew Caesar-Gordon, managing director of media training group Electric Airwaves.

'Vodcasts should be about informing, educating and entertaining. Mostly you want to bring the pace and flair of a news programme to it. You have got to make it relevant and real to the audience.'

BE FOCUSSED

One way to do that is to feature people from the target audience. For example, instead of a long, boring speech from the chief executive on results day, consider making a vodcast of a member of staff interviewing him about implications for employees in the style of a news programme.

Podcasts and vodcasts are also particularly effective when it comes to engaging with an audience because they are especially focused on the needs of the viewer or listener.

'The primary use is for people to download podcasts or video content,' says Stuart Maister, director of web video producer Broadview. 'Users can view content in a fixed environment or take it away with them and listen to it or view it. It is not an either/or situation. People are very mobile, so this is about trying to create content which is efficient for the user - such as when they are travelling, or on a break.'

This form of communication is also particularly useful to companies with global workforces, who may not all be able to simultaneously tune in to a broadcast, or remote workforces such as field workers who do not have habitual access to the internet.

By focusing on the needs of the audience, a pod or vodcast can create a much higher degree of engagement, not least because the user must interact with your brand by downloading the content - even if this is done automatically via an RSS feed.

'It is the norm for us to make communications downloadable,' says Maister. 'This multi-platform approach is becoming standard now.'

It is also the norm for consumers to expect professional standards, particularly for vodcasts. Maister adds: 'Pod/vodcasts should be produced for people to engage with, with the same production values as you see on the BBC. It should be purposeful content - there to convey a specific message.'

ENTERTAINING THEATRE

Mahne adds: 'We are used to the idea of watching and hearing messages, and the Internet is just another channel. Pod/vodcasting is fundamentally a much more user-friendly medium. The end result, if done well, will be much more satisfying than reading a bit of corporate communication. It does look so much better in the broadband-internet world if you have something that people can interact with. There is an element of theatre attached to it, so it is worth investing time to make sure it is at least watchable.'

 However, while it is important to ensure high quality of film for a vodcast, it is equally vital to aim for the same editorial standards as a news programme.

'This is all about moving away from puff,' says Mahne. 'Social media audiences know if something is a red herring or a piece of puff. It is competing with the BBC and Sky News, so it has got to have that editorial quality. One thing I usually say to people going through this for the first time is Do something behind the scenes - the stuff they don't get to see in everyday life. It brings the message to life in a way that text just never can.'

This is precisely what trade body Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) aims to achieve with the series of podcasts it produces through Markettiers4DC each year alongside its annual members' 'Engage' conference.

The podcasts feature speakers behind the scenes after they have finished their presentations, as well as vox pops with members of the audience. These are packaged together with interviews with the chairman and chief executive, into a series of podcasts which can be downloaded by the IAB's members. If they register on the IAB's RSS feed, then they receive the podcasts automatically.

'We have been producing podcasts for our 'Engage' conference for three years, with the aim of providing our industry audience with digestible insights from the event plus soundbites from all the speakers to give those who attended - and those who didn't - a memory of the day,' says Amy Kean, senior marketing manager at the IAB. 'The events provide UK marketers with a full overview of what's happening in digital marketing, and by capturing the essence of the conference in just ten minutes, we have additional collateral to market the IAB's offering.'

CAREFUL POSITIONING

Since the last conference in November, the IAB's podcasts have been downloaded nearly 1,000 times. Kean says podcasting has demonstrated the IAB's willingness to keep up with its members' communication needs - to adapt itself to what they want, rather than vice versa. 'Podcasts capitalise on new trends in consumer behaviour, to both maintain loyalty and generate revenue, as we adapt to the changing lifestyles of our audiences.

'The IAB audience is incredibly time-poor, so through offering downloadable content that they can enjoy on the move, we can reach them when other media can't.'

Whether using audio or video, it is essential to push pod or vodcasts out as far into the social media space as possible, to ensure they are seen and heard. Putting them on the corporate website may not be enough. Goldsmith says: 'A lot of BBC content, for example, is downloaded as iTunes. People won't necessarily think to go to your website to find it. Similarly, [airports operator] BAA push out retail messages, but if I was a consumer would I think to go to the BAA website? No. BAA has done travel guides, for instance, but you wouldn't think to go to their website for that sort of content either.'

Some companies package them for journalists using a multimedia press release, and offer podcasts to websites and online magazines, as well as the 60-odd aggregate sites such as You Tube, Yahoo and iTunes, onto which content can be uploaded. Campaigns can be sponsored or media owners can be paid to host them. People want to be able to 'find' content they are interested in, rather than have it fed to them. Using a mixture of these methods will help to make it more likely that stakeholders will do just that.

If companies get it right, they also benefit from the added bonus of increasing search engine optimisation for their brand. As Goldsmith says: 'You will be bringing people back to your own site.' 

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