Podcasting is an easy, inexpensive marketing tool businesses can utilize to reach their target markets. Here are five key things you need to make a successful audio or video podcast.

1. A Host: A reliable, scalable, affordable hosting partner that will serve your content and offer your listeners and viewers the full advantages of RSS publishing.

2. A Great Web Site: A highly functional, great looking site that reflects your personality and gives you all the tools you need to create and participate in rich conversations around your content, including blogging, comments, ratings, reviews, social tagging, etc.

3. Superior Content: Viral, entertaining, and persuasive content that reflects sufficiently quality and professionalism to cause people to want more.

4. Deep Understanding of Audience: Who they are, how many of them are listening and watching, what they have watched, listened to, downloaded, the pattern of their usage, what they have commented on, liked, hated, and want more of.

5. Synergistic Community: Join efforts with other like-minded people who share your common interests and goals and are producing content that serves the same audience.