When did you last have the opportunity to really relax your eyes and open up your ears? Podcasts have long been a hit in English-speaking countries, with some regularly attracting a million listeners. In recent years the trend has also arrived in Switzerland. Many communications professionals and business leaders are now asking whether their organisation also needs its own audio broadcasts.

You’ll hear more about the benefits of podcasts and how to reach your audience in our audio piece (in Swiss German).

This checklist is designed to help you decide.

Content

• Do you have a special corporate culture, specific industry knowledge or other positions worthy of discussion that would benefit an external specialist audience or a broader range of listeners?
• Are you prepared to generate content that goes beyond navel-gazing? Can you get a podcast up and running on a broader basis?
• Do you have people with specialist knowledge whose input would benefit the public discourse?

Hosts and guests

• Are these people able to present what they know in a straightforward and entertaining way?
• Are there one or more people within your organisation who could host the podcast – or someone you could train to do so?
• Are you willing to get external guests to take part?

Tone

• The tone of podcasts is generally easygoing and relaxed, so they’re not the ideal format for companies that take themselves very seriously in their communications. Are you ready to also laugh about yourself?

Technology and resources

• Is audio know-how available, or do you have the resources to buy it, for example in the form of training or external production?
• Do you have the resources to produce a new episode at least once a month? You could also consider pre-producing episodes in batches and then broadcasting them on a weekly basis.