News
 How
to Spice Up Your Emails with Podcasting
by Raj Khera
Now you can increase the effectiveness of your email
newsletters and marketing campaigns by adding sound,
music, and even your own voice to them. Audio adds
another dimension to your messages and sets them
apart from other emails in your recipients' inboxes.
It's easy to create a podcast file and link to it
from your email marketing. A podcast is simply an
audio file saved in MP3 format which is played or
delivered on demand when someone clicks on its link.
Saving your audio in MP3 format compresses it so it
takes up much less disc space. You link to it from
your email just as you would normally link to an
image or webpage.
To Create a Podcast, you will need:
- A microphone
- Software to record an audio file
- Software to save your file as an MP3 file
To listen to your Podcast, recipients will need:
- Software that plays MP3 files (such as Windows
Media Player, Apple QuickTime, or iTunes)
To create and publish your own podcast, just follow
these simple steps:
1. Record your message with a microphone and audio
recording software. If you don't have software that
allows you to create a file in MP3 format, you can
find and download some inexpensive or free ones on
the web. We used Audacity (www.audacity.sourceforge.net).
2. Save your audio file in WAV format and edit it -
if you like. You will need software that allows you
to save your file in WAV and then MP3 format. Again,
there are free ones available on the Internet. We
downloaded and used LAME (www. users.york.ac.uk/~raa110/audacity/lame.html).
3. When you are finished editing, save your file in
MP3 format, and publish it on your website. Or, ask
your tech support or webmaster to do this for you.
4. Create your email newsletter or message as you
would normally. One of the easiest ways to do this
is by using an Email List Management Service like
MailerMailer (http://www.mailermailer.com).
5. Create a link name that you will ask recipients
to click on. For example, we used Listen to our
Podcast for this article (www.mailermailer.com/newsletter/createpodcast.mp3).
6. Link to your MP3 file. Do this as you would
normally link from your email to any image or
webpage. When someone reads your email and clicks on
that link, your podcast will start to play
immediately - if they have software that allows them
to listen to MP3 files. Most computers come
preloaded with Windows Media Player, Apple
QuickTime, or iTunes.
7. Finish editing and save your email. Most email
marketers create an html version as well as a
text-based version.
8. Send a test version to yourself. Click on your
podcast's hyperlink to make sure it launches
properly.
9. That's it. You are ready to send your message!
Raj Khera is a
partner in MailerMailer LLC, a web-based email list
management service that allows you to create and
track opt-in newsletters and email marketing
campaigns. (http://www.mailermailer.com).
|
|
|
Melissa Data
|
 |
| Enhance your
website, software or database with
easy-to-integrate data quality programming tools
and web services. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Save money on postage using leading
mail preparation software and other
direct marketing products. |
|
|
|
|
 |
Update & standardize addresses and
find out more about contacts in your
database.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Find new customers perfect for your
business with our online and
specialty mailing lists.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Locate the business information you
need such as ZIP Codes, address
verification, maps.
|
|
|
|
|
Facebook
Twitter
