By Sharon Housley

Podcasting content comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Businesses are finding many different and creative ways of incorporating podcasts into their business strategies and marketing plans.

Here are just some of the various types of content that businesses are turning into podcasts...

1. Audio Books

Books that are "read" aloud are no longer embraced only by the visually impaired. For example, commuters who want to make the most of their travel time have long embraced books-on-tape. The podcast medium is far more compact and portable, so audio books and similar content are now being made available as podcasts.

2. Audio Tours

Interested in a guided tour of a historic site, or a detailed explanation of a museum display? Audio tour podcasts with detailed explanations are becoming quite common.

3. Sermons

The word of God, Allah, or a bible study discussion are now all popular content for podcast material. It does not really matter the what the religious material might be -- what is important is that by turning those conversations and dialogs into podcasts, their reach is being extended and new audiences are being touched .

4. Indie Artists Demos

Independent musical artists, looking to build a community and develop a fan base, are no longer restricted by their geographical region. With podcasts, Indie artists can expand their audience and increase their reach. Indie's can use iTunes to get reactions to new material or songs.

5. Foreign Language

What better way to learn a language than to hear it? Podcasts are a perfect medium for foreign language instruction. Listeners can hear accents and phrasing, and listen to a specific lecture until they have fully mastered the content.

6. Recipes

Interested in gourmet cooking, but do not have the time to watch cooking show hosts such as Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart? Download the podcasts to learn new recipes, at a time and place of your choosing and convenience.

7. Showing Homes For Realtors

What better way to market property or homes for sale than with a video podcast? Home tours help sell available listings, and with economic conditions currently unfavorable to sellers, they need all the help they can get. Video podcasts or slideshows of the homes help entice interested buyers to learn more about properties. Using podcasting as a communication medium will help expand the homes appeal.

8. Sporting Event Commentaries

Sportscasters are always ready and willing to offer opinions and commentary on sporting events. Pre-event festivities and post-event analysis are often enjoyed by fans, and if the commentaries are made available at any time as podcasts, the listeners have much more flexibility.

9. Medical Instruction

As just one example, medical schools have recorded a variety of heart murmurs as podcasts. Medical students studying cardiology can listen to the various heart defects until they understand the different sounds and the impact those anomalies have on the circulatory system. Recognizing the sound patterns of a heart murmur can greatly aid medical students when they run across similar anomalies in a real patient.

10. Class Lectures

Universities have embraced podcasting, providing supplemental class material as podcasts. Students often listen to the material while commuting from one class to another, exercising, or relaxing between classes.

11. Corporate - Internal Sales Force Updates

Podcasting is a perfect way for a business to communicate with remote sales staff, regarding things such as addressing corporate policy changes, new product descriptions, and marketing points. Educating a wide-spread sales force about a new product or service has always been a challenge. Corporations have tackled this problem by providing audio and video podcasts that detail a product's use. Sales team members are often able to learn about new products without needing to travel to the corporate headquarters for formal instruction or sales seminars.

12. Political Debates

Are political debates a hobby, or do you just like to stay informed on the issues and candidates? Many political debates are now available via podcasts.

Potential podcasting content covers the gamut. With more than millions of podcasts now available, there are few topics that are not covered by this popular communication channel.

Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll https://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll https://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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