Podcasting is one of those tools that should be in every learning content marketer’s toolkit. Podcasts help to bring targeted traffic. They help to establish your reputation. And they help to build credibility.

Podcasting is a first and foremost a form of learning content. So for the information marketer a podcast is a form of learning content. And like any learning content it follows a particular process.

The process begins with the identification of an audience. The next task is to determine what motivates your audience. Once you have a motivator you need to provide a solution. Of course a solution by itself is very difficult to learn and to teach. So you need to turn it into a system which can be followed easily. It needs to be simplified into a set of steps that anyone can follow.

Podcasting is one of these latter products. Once you’ve determined that podcasting is one of the tools you are going to use to market your product line, you need to start creating the actual podcasts. In theory, you should be structurally editing and then converting your outline into a script. However, generally, podcast segments are too small and simple to justify this effort.

The next task instead is to record the podcast. This may take several attempts which effectively fulfill the same purpose as a formal edit. You now have a raw recorded podcast segment. These segments are then edited to remove errors, add transitions, introductions and concluding credits and combine the segments into a final podcast usually in MP3 format.

The podcast is uploaded to either your own site or to a podcasting site. If you use your own site you will need to drive traffic to the podcast. The podcast is cycle repeats and a new podcast is uploaded to replace the previous podcast. Frequently a podcasting service is used for the current podcast and an archive of prior podcasts is maintained on the producer’s site.

Typically podcasts are squeezed into other activities. The concept is that the audience will enjoy the podcast so much that they will visit the producer’s site to obtain past podcasts and other available information. This is why the producer’s website needs to be featured prominently in the podcast.

Podcasting is one of the most democratic and effective of the new media tools that allows you to get your message or point of view across to a wide audience. The ability to project your message to anyone,anywhere at anytime on the device of their choosing has lead to explosive growth in new media. This is so much so that established media outlets are porting their offerings from TV and radio to the podcast world.

Often thought of as personal broadcasting many podcasters make a healthy income at podcasting either in traditional audio podcasts or in the now popular video podcasts. The market has grown exponentially from the early adopters in the geek world to many of the top marketers in the world. One of the contributing factors to this has been the growth of computer notebooks and personal music players such as the iPod and the Zune. This seismographic shift in the delivery of music from records to cd’s and online music aggregators and sellers such as Apple’s iTunes. The other major delivery channel is the Smartphone like the iPhone, the Blackberry, Android and HTC products and now the iPad tablet device from Apple.

Professionals, and small businesses are extending their reach into their own community on their areas of expertise. This proliferation allows you to connect by video or voice in a way that has just not been possible in prior years. There are podcasts on gardening, child-rearing, sex, relationships, health and thousands of other niche and microniche subjects. Education is also possible through the Open University, MIT,Stanford, professional organizations and a host of world class institutions for the taking. The opportunities are unlimited and open to anyone with a microphone, computer, and software program to record,edit and produce podcasts.