I was reading an article about a nurse whose mother (due to having MS) was forced to become a consultant for nurses. This service has been turned into a podcast by her son Jim DeMaria who is a RN, BSN, vice president of Renal Care Registered Nursing Services in Nanuet, N.Y

Here are some things that caught my eye from the article:

The Nurse’s Station, a weekly audio podcast that discusses current events and issues that affect the nursing community. The show also features guest interviews with fellow nurses and answers questions from listeners who write in to the show. The show, which has about 15,000 subscribers and more than 15,000 weekly downloads, is available as a free download on iTunes and on Renal Care’s website at www.RenalCareRNs.com.

The Nurses Station came out of an idea that the company could use a social medium, such as podcasts, to reach a large portion of the nursing community while at the same time bringing brand recognition to Renal Care, the sole sponsor of the show.

DeMaria said the show started out as a monthly broadcast and then went to twice a month. “After about a year, we started to go weekly,” he said. Topics include meditation for stress in nursing and the healthcare reform debate. All the shows are prerecorded, and DeMaria usually does about five interviews each Friday. He recorded more than 20 shows in February alone, he says.
“I do a little background on my guests first and then just have a conversation,” DeMaria said. “The more free flowing the better. It makes for a much more informative interview.”

Because nurses can send topics for broadcast, DeMaria said the show works because there are real nurses listening to real nursing topics. “We can talk about what we want when we want,” he said.

To me this is just a great example of keeping your brand in front of your target audience, while providing them useful information, and building community at the same time.

I've contacted numerous companies over the years who have franchises across the country, or who put out their email newsletters on a monthly basis, but do not have a podcast. I put out this article to say, “SEE?!?!?” to these people who are not sure if it would be worth the effort.

Want to start a podcast? Come see me at www.schoolofpodcasting.com