Confession. I've steered clear of podcasts until recently. 

Partly the name itself, another one of those interwebby portmanteau monstrosities. 

But also because I was wildly ignorant of the potential of audio broadcasting. I just spent six months helping launch a video studio for my employer, but that's not really much of a defence.

So back to podcasting (yes, let's call it that). The demographics are a marketers delight. Young, but not too young. Aspirational. Graduates mostly. One fifth of the US population listens to a podcast every week. 

These 'curious consumers' are heavily suspicious of traditional marketing and advertising. Which is why podcasts are the perfect table where brands and their audience can dine together.

Sounds perfect for your super-cool brand and your sophisticated audience, right? Sure. But before you set up a sound studio, do your research first. 

Lock down the basics: subject matter, duration, tone of voice for starters. We ran polls on social media to get answers from a many of our followers as possible. 

Remember as well the rules around other media, especially video. Not everything needs to be professional broadcast quality. Seek to entertain on a frequent, predictable basis. High on content is better than high fidelity. 

But once you've grasped those research basics, don't get bogged down in the details. Record a pilot, record it again. Test it with your employees and 'close friends' on social media (we have a Facebook Group for just these experiments). 

Above all, audition and then coach the presenters with the charisma and chemistry that builds loyalty and word of mouth. That's the trickiest task of all. And I'll come back to it shortly in a future post. 

In the meantime, if anyone challenges the importance of podcasting as part of your content mix, show them this infographic. It made my eyes water. It'll make them weep too.