blog. “Money, economics, all that stuff is so important, so vital to
understand, and it’s what really drives me to crank out a podcast
every single day. Each day, another piece gets added to the puzzle,
and I know a little bit more about how to make the world work for
me—and for my listeners.
“The audience for Financial Aid Podcast is primarily people who
are looking to get into college, are currently in college, or have just
graduated,” Penn says. “The nice thing about the college aid demo-
graphic is that they all have iPods, which is ideal for the podcast as a
marketing tool.” Because Penn understands his buyer personas—
young people—he can speak to them in an authentic, resonant
way. Penn knows that for his demographic, a podcast is perfect,
because so many people are already listening to audio and have
iTunes accounts.
“Podcasting is great marketing because, like blogging, it is a hu-
man voice,” Penn says. “Most podcasts don’t have a PR stamp on
them, so the shows come across as being human. The reason why
this is interesting is that there is a big marketing shift going on right
now. The older, traditional advertising model, like 1950s TV, is that
we publish and you consume. However, today’s marketing model is
that we publish and you respond. It provides me real feedback from
real people, and I have conversations. I can be interactive.”
Penn sees a clear link between marketing and customer service at
companies. He suggests that customer service needs to be real and
authentic and have a human voice, just like great marketing. “There
is no such thing as ‘on message’ anymore,” Penn says. “[Customer
service] is no longer about spin, but instead becoming a part of the
conversation. Now I think that companies that do not make the
jump to blogging and podcasting and interacting with customers
look like dinosaurs. Some industries are tailor-made for this, but
they do not get it. For example, I would think that real estate agents
could do a great job with video podcasts, but it is very rare. If you
have a customer services department, you need to be doing this kind
of marketing.”
Penn has conducted research about his audience and has adapted
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