Let’s face it, keeping your marketing mix fresh can be a real challenge. You’ve done the article marketing thing. You’ve planned email marketing campaigns, promotions, joint ventures, linking, ebooks, advertising, giveaways, and maybe even direct mail. What’s left? What can you do to interact with your customers, engage and excite them, and encourage traffic and promotion? The answer? Audio marketing.

Here’s how audio can enhance your online business marketing plan.

Marketing with audio enables you to personally connect to your audience. Ever turn to the last page of a book to see what the author looks like? I do that all the time. What about visiting a web page and searching the about us page so you can learn a little bit about who runs the business? I do that too and I’d like to think I’m not just a voyeur and that I am like most people and I want to connect a little bit with the companies I shop from and interact with.

When you provide an audio on your file, you give visitors the opportunity to hear your voice and connect with you for a few seconds. You can use your audio file to say hello, to tell them a little bit about yourself and why you created your company or to jump right into a sales pitch and tell folks why your product or service will change their lives. When they hear it from you, they may be more likely to believe it.

One suggestion when you’re creating your audio file is to consider making listening to it optional. I only say this because many people surf online when they’re not really supposed to. Maybe their at work or at the library or even at home while they’re watching television and the last thing they want is to click on your site and have your voice, as wonderful as it is, break the silence. It’s a dead giveaway to their boss that they’re not working and it can be irritating if they’re surfing in a quiet location.

When you include an audio file on your business website, consider your visitors and maybe add a button they need to click on to listen to it. Another option is to test which works better, an audio that begins 30 seconds after they’ve arrived on your site or an audio they have to click on. That way you know you’re meeting your customer’s needs.

Another reason to use audio is that it is a fantastic medium to offer free products like an audio tutorial. A free MP3 is an excellent trade for an email address. Additionally, there are now many information based websites that offer tons of written content and also tons of audio tutorials. Visitors can click on the links to listen to the material and learn, they can download it to their computer to listen to later or they can transfer the audio file to their MP3 player and listen to it when they’re in the car. They can also share it with friends and increase the exposure of your company.

Audio tutorials are excellent however what about audio books, audio reports, recorded interviews, recorded workshops and more.

Audio is incredibly cost effective.

In fact, there are many tools on the web that make creating an audio file and embedding it on your website virtually cost free. Audio programs like Audacity, which is an open source program, enables you to record telephone interviews or conference calls and save them as MP3s. You’ll need a few tools like a simple converter but they generally cost less than $50.00.

Additionally, it only costs you to produce the file once but you’ll be using it hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of times. AND when you create an audio file in the form of a CD giveaway the production costs are extremely minimal. That being said, the majority of people prefer digital audio files which is more cost effective for you. One thing to consider when creating an audio file is that it needs to be quality. If people cannot hear you or understand you, or they’re hearing your dog barking in the background, then you’re going to lose credibility and the effect you’re going for.

One of the benefits of audio is that it is easy to convert print into audio. For example, let’s say you have a report that has done well as a content piece, transferring it into an audio file is as easy as speaking into a microphone.

When recording print copy, it is important to make sure you sound natural. A great way to do this is to read it aloud a few times to get the hang of the copy and then ad lib. Read the copy like you’re talking to a friend. Add contractions, pauses, and even a joke or two where appropriate. If you’re not comfortable with this task or the project just isn’t turning out how you want it to, consider hiring a voice to record the copy for you.

It is also really easy to take an audio file and transfer it into a print product. For example, you can interview an expert and market that audio, have it transcribed and sell the transcribed product or give it away as a separate promotion. Your only cost is the cost of transcription – about $15/hour.

Podcasts are growing by leaps and bounds, now you can easily reach your audience weekly via your voice, rather than via email Ezines. Podcasts are viral and can be shared and recommended by fans and they’re an excellent, cost effective way to communicate with your audience on a regular basis.

There are so many reasons to use audio to market your business. It’s cost effective, easy to use, interactive and it enables you to communicate directly with your customers on a more personal level. It’s a great tool. Include it in your marketing plan today!