01. Mainstream Popularity: For starters, podcasting has evolved into a broad mainstream medium. Today, a vast majority of media entities are using podcasts to expand their existing radio, TV, cable or satellite audiences.

A survey by eMarketer projects growth of the US podcast audience to balloon through 2013. The projections show 37.6 million people downloading podcasts monthly, more than double the 2008 figure of 17.4 million. This also represents 17% of Internet users, growing from 9% in 2008.

If podcast downloaders and the number of downloads are poised for double digits growth, it would be wise to integrate it into your marketing mix.

02. Additional Learning Modality: Offering your audience another learning modality with audio / podcast media embraces auditory learners. A percentage of your audience dislike watching video and would rather listen to an MP3 file on their iPod any day of the week. Catering to this crowd increases your percentages of more of your audience engaging with your content.

03. iPod Generation: As shared above, there’s a percentage of your audience that listen to audio files or podcasts enroute to work, while exercising in the gym or while walking their dogs. Unlike videos which require their active attention, your audience can drive, walk or be active while listening to your content. Catering to this “multi-tasking”, active audience with audio podcasts is a wise move to engage this crowd.

04. Podcast Marketing: Distributing (aka syndicating) your podcast channel/feed to podcast directories is a sound strategy to increase your exposure on the web, listenership and credibility in your niche. Using software like “RSS Submit” (DummySoftware.com) to syndicate your podcast feed to the top 50 podcast directories will make easy work of expanding your reach with your podcasts.

05. Inexpensive Technique: With the lesson I’ll share below, the price tag (free) to accomplishing this task will be very attractive to small & medium sized businesses (SMBs) on a budget.

Disclaimer: The process below will not teach you how to create a video OR detail podcast marketing with your audio. This step by step process will simply show you how to repurpose a video into audio simply.

Video Tip: To export your videos to a Quicktime .MOV file, follow these instructions from Blip.tv: http://blip.tv/learning/export

The assumption is that you have a video you’ve created and I’ll walk you through how to repurpose your video into an audio file easily. This process is free, convenient, does not require the use of other software, and once complete, you’ll have access to the linked audio file on the web – ready for your podcast marketing.

This process takes advantage of the transcoding process Blip.tv offers to all its customers. Blip.tv will automatically transcode your videos into audio MP3s, iPod-friendly MPEG-4 (.M4V) videos, and Flash video (.FLV) from your one .MOV uploaded video file. Let’s dive into the process…

01. In your browser, visit http://Blip.tv

02. If you have a Blip.tv account, click the "Login" link to access your account

03. To register for a free Blip.tv account, click the "Sign Up" link to begin your registration.

Once logged in, roll your mouse over the "Upload" tab, revealing the drop-down table. Click the "Web upload" link.

01. Title: describe the title of your field here. Write your title to read naturally to visitors, while including your important keywords.

02. Description: describe your video in this field. I recommend including your URL to your destination page or site before your text description.

03. Your File: Click the "Choose File" button to upload your video.

04. If you have more than one format of the same video to upload, click the "Add additional format/captioning" link to do so. This is optional.

05. Thumbnail: If you desire a start image for your video, click the "Choose File" button to upload your thumbnail image.

01. License: Click the drop-down table to reveal a selection of available licenses you can add to your video. (Note: The selection highlighted in blue above is not an indication of what you should select. Choose a license that best suits your needs.)

02. If you have a web address to a custom license for this video, add your URL in this field.

01. Tags (keywords): Add all appropriate keywords pertaining to your video

02. Genre: Associate your video to a select genre in this drop-down selection of genres

03. Content Rating: Click the drop-down table to select the appropriate content rating for your video

04. Language: If your video is in English, leave this field as is. If not, change the language setting.

05. Event: If you want to associate your video to a current event, you can add the name of the event in this field or click "Find Event" to locate one that has already been added.

This is the section where the magic happens!

01. Cross Posting: To cross post to these services, checkbox the desired target destinations. (Note: In order for Blip.tv to cross-post to these sites, you’ll need to enter your access codes of your accounts into your account settings first.)

02. Internet Archive Cross-Uploading: The Internet Archive is another destination that is popular and receives Google love. Select the checkbox if so desired.

03. Conversion Targets: We’re finally here! Select the 2 checkboxes as Blip.tv will convert your Quicktime .MOV file to .M4V (for iPods and iPhones) and .MP3 audio files.

I wouldn’t bother about the Privacy Settings as you want your video as public as possible, right? So leave this alone.

The final step is to click the orange "Upload" button to begin the upload process including cross-posting and converting to additional formats.

In your Dashboard, you’ll see the video you’ve uploaded, along with status updates of your conversion and cross-posting activities.

In this sample video in my account, you can see conversions to .FLV, .M4V and .MP3 completed, and completed cross-posts to Twitter, del.cio.us and Flickr too.

Now, let’s seek the link to the completed .MP3 converted file by clicking either the video title link or the "Share" link.

Locate your video’s "Files and Links" module in the bottom of the right-sidebar.

Click the [+] sign to expand the module.

You’ll see the "MP3 Audio (.mp3)" field and URL to the audio file. See the "Right Click > Save" link? That’s how you can save the link for embedding into your blog or downloading to your computer.

With the mainstream popularity of podcasting and iPods, offering podcasts to your listening audience is not only an inexpensive venture but wise and effective to expand your reach and credibility.

The steps above details the easy and convenient process of converting your videos to audio. Armed with this knowledge, now its your turn to convert your videos to audio to maximize your marketing leverage.

If you decide to try repurposing your videos into audio using this process, I’d appreciate your feedback on how this process worked for you.