There is no shortage of ways to disseminate news to employees, from company meetings, lunchroom bulletin boards and print newsletters to voice mail, intranets, and email marketing blasts. One fresh entry, podcasting, may soon change the way forward-thinking companies reach staff on the go.

Distributed through sources such as Yahoo!, Podcast.net and Apple’s iTunes, podcasts are audio programs that can be downloaded onto a computer or a portable music player like an iPod. Podcasters range from media giants to solo broadcasters pontificating on everything from takeout food to alien abduction. Radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications offers free podcasts of popular radio shows, including Rush Limbaugh, and National Public Radio podcasts programs like All Things Considered.

The medium’s popularity is expected to take off: 12.3 million U.S. households will use MP3 players to listen to audio podcasts by the end of the decade, according to Forrester Research. So, should your company consider podcasting to employees? John Baldoni, author of How Great Leaders Get Great Results (McGraw-Hill), believes podcasts can be “a good strategic communication tool for companies wanting to explain serious issues in a format that employees can listen [to] at their leisure.” A pending merger, a change in benefits or new product information are just some of the topics a company might consider for podcasting, says Baldoni, who records his own podcast on effective leadership (www.cio.com/podcasts).

Emotional Connection
Podcasts may be especially useful to companies with a mobile workforce, says Paul Parkin, principal for Salt Branding in San Francisco. Salt works with one such client, Mobile 365. The mobile messaging company produces a series of podcasts called “StreetTalk” that address issues facing the business. Featuring interviews with management, the podcasts can be listened to live or downloaded.

Keeping your employees engaged with your messaging, of course, is a critical element of any strategic communications strategy. Podcasting is no different. Audiences desire relevant, timely and trustworthy content. “We want focused and coherent messages that are easy to digest and understand,” Baldoni says. “That means you need to do your prep work — write, record, then release. Don’t ramble, repeat and post.”

“Podcasts have the potential of adding a dynamic quality to information that goes beyond the restrictions of e-mail or print,” Parkin adds. “With a little imagination, podcasts can become emotional touch points for a company — the more you put into a podcast, the more your employees will take out.”

If you’re concerned that older, technophobic workers may not take to podcasting, Parkin says, there’s nothing to fear because it’s simply a new delivery method for an old medium — radio. “It’s just like having radio in your pocket or on your PC,” he notes.

As with any emerging technology, it’s hard to know when to commit — and most companies cannot afford to chase consumer marketing trends of every kind, notes Brian A. Young, vice president of information technology at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. But most experts agree that podcasting is here to stay, and that smart companies stand to benefit from the medium. “The population of podders is growing and the consumer demand for on-the-fly mobile audio and video files is greater than ever,” Young says.

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