Could your business cut paper by producing Podcasts?

The production and distribution of paper media such as leaflet handouts and customer newsletters costs more money as the number of copies increases. Even a short print run of 5000 is costly to produce and print, but in many cases it also becomes a major logistical operation. The staff time and postal costs certainly mount up with larger circulations.

Save the trees

Podcasts can also appeal to the environmentally conscious. It only takes mouse clicks to publish Podcast, and they do not have to be recycled or disposed of like their paper counterparts.

Podcast recording, production and web hosting of course uses energy, as does the listener's computer and mp3 player or mobile phone. However, the ecological cost of running a server is (as good as) the same whether 5,000 listeners are downloading your Podcast episode or 1. Compare this with the comparable chunk of rainforest used by paper-based communication and you are obviously onto a green (and inexpensive) thing.

So, how do you instigate this communications revolution? There are many options for your podcast production, ranging from a simple monologue briefing listeners on the latest news through to a fully scripted and professionally produced talk show. I would ask, if you are prepared to make the effort to produce a magazine every month - could you not feed the same effort into a personal, engaging and interactive Podcast?

Let us consider a company anniversary for a moment. A Podcast could include a "state of the nation" address from your Company President, a page in the newsletter normally ignored by the staff could become an upbeat and dynamic interview where staff questions are posed and answered.