Podcasting is quickly becoming the heavy-hitter of the marketing content world.
Successful B2B podcasts allow businesses to draw in new leads, connect with their audience, and harvest micro-content to be used throughout the marketing funnel.
A podcast can give brands a more multidimensional voice and a chance to really bring value to prospects and customers alike.
However, sometimes the best of podcasting intentions fail to flourish. How can you set your B2B podcast up for success? And what do successful podcasts look like?
BUILDING YOUR B2B PODCAST
Along with podcasting equipment, you’ll need a strategy. Here are the basics:
1. Identify your niche market
Get a solid understanding of your target audience. What are their demographics? What are their needs and challenges? What do you ultimately want them to do after listening to or viewing your video podcast?
Consider your podcast goals and objectives as you work to identify your niche.
If you’re aiming for lead generation, your target audience will have the same traits as your ideal prospects. If you’re shooting for brand awareness, your niche market might be more broad.
2. Choose a theme and outline topics:
Your podcast episodes should be united under a theme that resonates with your audience. The possibilities are endless and vary from industry to industry.
As you formulate potential episode topics, focus on providing value to your listeners. FAQs from prospects and customers can make good podcast topics. Issues that need a deeper explanation also work well, especially if it’s difficult to locate information or answers on the subject.
3. Be passionate
Hop on any podcast platform and you’ll see podcasts on just about every topic under the sun. What makes the great ones stand out?
PASSION.
Listening to a bland podcast feels like sitting in a stuffy classroom. On the other hand, enjoying a passionate podcast feels like a breath of fresh air.
If you aren’t passionate about your podcast, it’s unlikely that your audience will be. Put your energy and enthusiasm behind each episode to grow your audience.
4. Strategize and stay consistent
With your audience and theme in place, your next task is to create your podcast strategy. Here are some strategy details to think about:
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Setting tone and personality: What tone best conveys your brand personality? Some examples are “genuine and bubbly,” “assertive and knowledgeable,” “helpful and friendly,” “quirky and irreverent,” etc.
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Cadence and timing: Decide how often to post new content, and what day/time you’ll do it. The key is to keep the content flowing without overwhelming your subscribers.
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Micro-content: Ideally, you’ll plan your content so that it can be edited into shorter clips to be used throughout your marketing strategy. For example, bite-size, consumable segments of your video podcast can be posted to social media or included via email.
One well-planned B2B podcast episode can provide a month or more of valuable video content!
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Stay on track: Stick with the schedule no matter what. Your audience will notice if you don’t seem too committed to your content, and the commitment shows through regularity. Be consistent in order to gain and retain subscribers.
CASE STUDIES
Now that you’ve learned some podcasting best practices, let’s take a look at some successful podcasts that are leading the conversation and learn why they’re working so well.
The B2B podcasts that are NAILING IT:
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The Ringer: Almost 40 podcasts are associated with this online sports and pop culture publication. Spotify has recently acquired The Ringer’s family of podcasts for nearly $200 million.
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Drift Podcasts: This podcast collection aims to help businesses achieve hypergrowth. With different podcasts covering topics like marketing, sales operations, and even personal development, Drift podcasts have a little something for everyone (and plenty of cross-marketing opportunities).
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Shopify Podcast: E-commerce platform Shopify offers their audience specific and actionable business tips in their Shopify Masters podcast. Successful entrepreneurs are frequent guests, sharing their valuable experiences with up-and-comers.
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Privy Podcast: With a focus on SMBs and e-commerce, this marketing podcast is especially great at teaming up with other podcasts to grow their audience.
Feeling inspired? Go forth and podcast! The experts at Tobe Agency are here to serve you at any level, from strategy to execution. Don’t hesitate to send us some questions!
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