From Innovations, a website published by Ziff-Davis Enterprise from mid-2006 to mid-2009. Reprinted by permission.
Can the day be far away when you’ll want to buy all your employees – and many of your customers – an iPod? Maybe it won’t be Apple’s ubiquitous little media player, but devices like the iPod will become part of every business person’s toolkit in the not-too-distant future.
The iPod and its competitors are revolutionary in their ability to take media offline. No longer do we need to be connected to be tuned in. Podcasting, the Internet radio phenomenon that is sweeping the consumer market, has spawned more than 80,000 programs, some with upwards of a half million subscribers. But the unfolding story behind podcasting is its use behind the corporate firewall.
Think of it: what if you could turn people’s downtime – the time spent mowing the lawn, waiting in checkout lines or working out at the gym – into a connection to your business? Why not podcast your weekly employee newsletter or an update message from your CEO? How about a weekly audio program for your customers giving them tips to get more out of your products?
This is already happening. Whirlpool is podcasting a weekly program – Whirlpool American Family – offering valuable advice on issues ranging from childcare to nutrition. Accuvue, the contact lens maker, is reaching out to young people through Download with Heather & Jonelle, a podcast about teenage life. IBM’s investor relations group produced a podcast called “IBM and the Future of…,” looking into the evolution of technology in different industries. It was so successful that the company created “ShortCuts,” a weekly podcast of tips for getting more out of personal technology.
The concept shouldn’t stop there. Podcasts can deliver new product information, business intelligence and sales reports to your reps in the field. And a new breed of device is just around the corner. Next-generation media players will incorporate small but functional video displays, greatly enhancing the kinds of information you can distribute. Your field service reps will have access to training materials or the latest repair manuals in video form. Sales people will be able to carry customer testimonials and promotional videos with them. Your partners will download demos of your new products to play back at their convenience.
You’ll want to make sure these influencers are connecting with you, and that’s why I think you should consider giving away the technology to make that happen. Digital media players are already cheap and they’re getting cheaper. For example, MobilBlu is selling a 2GB MP3 player for $130. Why not can load one up with your latest promotional and how-to advice, stamp your brand on it and send it to each of your top 50 customers? And shouldn’t every one of your field sales reps have a digital music player pre-configured to download the latest sales reports? Cost is no longer a big impediment to doing this.
Corporations are already experimenting with the idea. When General Motors launched the Saturn Sky, its media relations group shot a four-minute lifestyle video about the design of the vehicle. It packaged that along with a variety of other digital assets into a black video iPod and sent the devices out to key media.
Digital media players are important new channels to get information to your employees and your customers. Are you willing to be an innovator in putting them to work?