B2B Marketing Strategies: Everything You Need To Know About Building An Original Podcast Series

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Podcasts are more popular than ever. As the audience grows, more and more companies are turning to this medium. B2B marketing teams are looking for ways to connect with customers and prospects and increase brand awareness. By 2021, more than 40% of Cloud 100 companies had their own branded podcasts. But with so much competition, it can be difficult for professional podcasts to stand out. Strong storytelling, engaging and reliable information, quality guests and high performance are essential for podcasts to attract and retain listeners.

Here's a summary of what marketers need to know about creating a B2B podcast.

How do people listen? Interaction takes place mainly in the app and on the go

Apple Podcasts and Spotify together make up 50%-65% of all podcasts listened to (various reports). The rest of the listeners use various mobile podcast apps, web players, desktop browsers or YouTube.

Podcasts are the perfect way to reach customers and prospects because people listen to podcasts while they're downstairs, on the go, at the gym, or doing homework.

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94% of listeners use podcasts while doing other things.

Source: BBC

Podcasts are a great addition to existing marketing campaigns that often target prospects at work (cold emails, paid inquiries, LinkedIn ads or webinars).

What is a B2B podcast?

A B2B podcast (or branded podcast) is an original audio series produced by a company as part of a content marketing initiative. Usually published as weekly episodes or seasons.

It's specifically designed for a businessman in a B2B business, meaning the podcast is more targeted. In a B2B podcast, you aim to provide specific information to a niche audience, and your goal is to educate, inspire, and entertain your audience.

A B2B podcast series is often more than just audio. You can record both audio and video and turn each episode into multiple content for your website and social media channels

Think of your company's content marketing as a portfolio: you want to have a variety of written, audio, and video content that your audience can subscribe to (long-form, short-form, tutorials, tutorials). under expert guidance or deep diving). The key here is to create quality alternatives that can be used for the way we consume media (mobile first) in 2022.

What do B2B podcasts do?

According to a BBC study, companies that offer branded podcasts see:

89% more awareness

57% more brand awareness

24% more brand awareness

14% more purchase intent

16% more engagement

12% higher memory encoding

Original podcasts are growing fast and are part of the B2B marketing toolkit. Many companies produce multiple podcast series targeting different individuals or industries. For example, large B2B companies such as VMware and Dell hold various trade shows.

Fast growing startups are also actively investing in this trend For example, Qualified (which recently raised $95 million) produces three original podcast and video series and Qualified+ to own original content.

What types of B2B podcasts are there?

Type of maintenance. Interview-style podcasts typically feature free-flowing conversations between the host and guests. They have segments or beeps that keep the listener interested. Content is typically focused on a target person, topic, industry or vertical (eg CMO, retail, cyber security, data) and can be 20-60 minutes long. Examples: Demand Generation Visionary, Data Cloud Podcast, We! and IOC Classification.

Mixed Narration - combines guest interviews and scripted narration. Stories are usually 50% scripted and based on personal stories or short stories. The story is pre-written by the author, produced by the producer and editor and the sound design is done by the sound engineer. Example: Often simulated, data radical or scaling master.

A screenplay narrative (non-fiction or fiction genre) is a complex story written 100% without using published interviews. They can be episodic (single episodes) or serialized (linked together like a Netflix series). The story is written by a team of writers and the material is put together by a producer and an editor. Sound design is created by a sound engineer. Examples: Hacker Chronicles, The Message or Hypnopolis.

Host only. Host-only podcasts are conversations between two (or more) hosts that discuss specific topics, dive into research, or share their thoughts on the latest news. There are often repeated segments or beeps to keep the listener interested. Example: Advanced Sales Podcast.

What is a B2B podcast used for?

Every company has different goals for a podcast, but it's usually a combination of the following ten. The beauty of creating a podcast is that you can use it to influence many different areas of your business.

Brand: Increase brand awareness in your target market. "I want Cooper to paint the sky blue," Chander, Cooper's director of marketing, told me when discussing awareness on the Demand General Visionary podcast.

Attract Targeted Customers (ABM): Help your sales team focus on key customers. This is the perfect way to ensure you can create content with target accounts.

Content Engine: Create a high-quality content engine. The content of a particular episode can then be converted into short audio or video clips, resulting in more sales.

Funnel: Target important leads and accelerate your funnel.

Community: Create and own a community

Category: Define a category and establish market leadership.

Contact: Communicate with key accounts, prospects and influencers.

Customer Testimonials: Tell more customer testimonials in high quality audio/video.

Thought Leadership: Make the CEO/CEO a thought leader.

Social: Create a video-centric approach to engaging social content.

Podcasts are extended content where speakers can discuss complex topics in depth. If you're selling a company's products to a large buying committee, podcasts are a great group communication tool.

Pay attention to the audience

A successful podcast can be a very effective tool to accelerate your business growth, but creating a show that's not just for you can be difficult. The first step to creating a successful podcast is to define your overall business goals. Select one (or more) of the examples above. But after that? Pay attention to the audience.

Define your target group. What do you want to know? How can you distribute it? Do you want something very specific for a specific demographic or something broader? The needs of the target audience should be the most important factor when creating your content. While you want to align your content with your brand goals, understanding what your customers need to know and prioritizing those concerns is critical to creating a successful podcast.

Focus on customer experience

As they say, customer experience is the new brand. How you treat your podcast guests is a very good reflection of your brand. Do you organize preparatory discussions? Do you ask questions in advance? Do you share an episode draft with your PR team before the episode airs? Is the guest's name, title and company spelled correctly?

These are just a few of the many things to consider when inviting guests to your podcast. You want your podcast guests to feel comfortable throughout the interview process. Feel free to share the episode with team members and on social media Guests who have had a positive experience with your show can be great advocates for your podcast and brand.

Attracting guests and creating a consistent feed are two of the biggest challenges for many businesses starting their own podcast series. You can make the process a little easier by ensuring quality traffic.

Have a clear layout and be consistent

Next, decide on the specific format and content of your podcast. In the crowded podcast market, you need every advantage imaginable to make your episodes stand out. After all, marketing is supposed to be great.

The number one way to get your podcast noticed is to create a unique, authentic voice and an engaging format. You want people to listen to your podcast because it gives them something they can't get from other podcasts. This "emotional personality" is a combination of the skills of the host, guests, sound design, recording quality and storytelling style. Finding the balance between informative and entertaining content isn't easy - don't be boring!

Consistency is key. Most of your releases and episodes should have a similar format to air at a consistent rate. Your format, quality and content constitute a "promise" you must keep with each episode. Weekly podcasts are superior to random, irregularly scheduled shows. Creating an interesting story is hard work, so you have to do your best.

Distribution is important

Just because you create a podcast doesn't mean the audience will come. You need a strong sales and marketing strategy. In addition to getting your podcast on the right platform, effective strategies for increasing your podcast's visibility can include targeted distribution, cross-promotion, and smart advertising. I could write another 1000 words, but you have to promote your own content - it's non-negotiable in my opinion.

winning strategy

Regardless of the format or method you choose, podcasts have become an essential tool for B2B companies to spread their message, increase brand awareness, influence sales funnels, acquire new customers, and tell stories. As the format continues to grow in popularity, now is the time to do it.

Ian Faison is the CEO and Founder of Caspian Studios.

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