Millions of listeners in the UK and worldwide are getting into podcasting. The BBC has recently converted its initial podcast ‘trial’ into a full-blown podcasting service. Leading newspapers and magazines are using it to innovate their content offering in ways that go far beyond static web pages. Podcasting is here to stay.

Forward-looking publishers can’t afford to ignore the opportunities podcasting can offer. Here are ten reasons why…

1. Podcasting is talking to your market – direct

Until recently the only way a book would get talked about was if it was featured on radio or TV or by some happy miracle excitement began to spread by word of mouth.

‘direct personal delivery to a constituency that has actively asked for your message is good – really good’

The good news is: with podcasting the talking doesn’t have to stop.

The relationship which publishers have always found hardest to forge is the crucial one – the direct relationship with the customer. Podcasting means you can now reach your customers with all the immediacy and intimacy of radio. Plus you can control the content, the schedule and the timing.

So much conventional marketing is push-driven. With podcasts, listeners opt in, not out. As Peter Levitan, former head of Saatchi and Saatchi’s London office says: ‘direct personal delivery to a constituency that has actively asked for your message is good – really good’.

So reason number 1 is podcasting lets you talk to the people you want to buy your books. There are nine more…