Podcasting is a popular way to listen to the radio online or via MP3 players, but more businesses are adopting the medium as a way to drive sales and increase the bottom line.

A podcast is an audio or video service to which listeners and viewers subscribe via special software, such as iTunes. It is the PC version of setting the digital TV recorder to record a series of programmes, and the special software will even notify you each time it has downloaded one of your scheduled programmes.

The beauty of podcasts is their portability. Indeed, the ‘pod' bit of podcasts is an acronym for 'portable on demand', and although many people opt to watch or listen to podcasts on their PC they were designed to be easily downloaded to MP3 and MP4 devices.

Podcasts are superb ways of keeping up with favourite programmes on the move. They are especially popular with commuters and music junkies, who simply can't get enough! The fit-and-healthy can also catch up on current affairs via audio podcasts as they participate in their daily jog, or exercise down the gym.

But now, more commercial enterprises are realising that podcasts are the perfect way to showcase their products and services. For example, it's a perfect format for hotels to show their wares. Rather than having to rely on someone's hit or miss amateur photographs on review sites, professional video podcasts give a viewer a more accurate feel of the facilities on offer from a range of properties from luxury hotels to budget inns.

Indeed, instead of paging through a stack of brochures, conference and meeting organisers can now get instant inspiration from podcasts showcasing a particular hotel or even a hotel chain's extensive facilities, including visual samples of accommodation available for delegates. Done right, an innovative podcast could even persuade a buyer of hospitality to consider a location they may not even been aware existed!

And because podcasting is such an easy medium to produce, time-sensitive information such as prices for special offers can be included in a way guaranteed to grab the viewer's attention.

Many more businesses are expected to produce commercial podcasts over the coming year as a whole new marketing medium is developed. If you search via Google for ‘podcasting for profit', you'll find many advertisers queuing up to show you how to turn podcasting into a profitable exercise in a varied number of easy steps, usually seven!

There is no doubt that many more businesses will be turning onto the podcasting for profit route, and that is likely to be a good thing for many discerning consumers.

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