Podcast marketing 101 is now in session

Turns out blogging and podcasting are two of the top 5 most effective tools for marketing leads in the technology industry, according to Marketing Sherpa.

Top 5 Tools For Generating Sales Leads

• 1. Free Trials -- Business software marketers ranked free trials extremely highly, with 54% calling trials very effective.
• 2. Webcast -- At 41% this was another favorite for software marketers, however technology services and related hardware firms also ranked webinars at 33% and 31% respectively.
• 3. White paper -- All business technology marketers rated white papers fairly evenly, giving white paper offers ratings ranging from 31-36% 'very effective.'
• 4. Blog -- 35% of software and ASP marketers rated their blog as very effective, as did 33% of technology services firms. However, just 19% of hardware companies felt that a corporate blog was effective. This may be because general business executives are more likely to read a blog, while IT staffers may not.
• 5. Podcast -- Last year the concept of a podcast was barely on the technology marketing map. By June 2006, 22% of software marketers who'd given a podcast called them 'very effective' lead generation tools. Perhaps IT professionals are more likely to be in an early adopter community that might listen to a podcast.

Seriously, that to me is just freaking cool. I can understand why it can be effective as well. It's so easy now to subscribe to a podcast or blog feed. (Hey you all DID notice my subscription buttons over there in the sidebar, right?) Then everything just gets automatically downloaded. If there is something you want to know more about- it's all right there in just a few clicks.

I know, I know... can Dani state the obvious any more clearer? :-P
Still, it's an interesting pdf to skim through. And I'm sure you all have someone you know in business who would appreciate the info, eh?

Gosh darn it- I love this crap.