Episode Summary
If a mainstream star like Taylor Swift were about to release a podcast she would probably have millions of listeners in less than a day But for companies and their podcasts attracting and growing an audience is challenging
Therefore they use various techniques including organic distribution and paid marketing campaigns to spread the word about their show and the value it could bring to their target audience
In this episode of Recorded Content we are joined by Toby Phillips the VP of Marketing and Communications at Kolbe and one of the leading figures behind his companys Powered by Instinct podcast
Toby shares why his team decided to start a podcast how they approach organic and paid marketing and the benefits of both and how B2B companies measure the success of their shows
Guest Profile
Name: Toby Phillips
What he does: Toby is the VP of marketing and communications at Kolbe
Company: Kolbe
Noteworthy: Toby is one of the leading people behind Powered by Instinct a podcast produced in-house at Kolbe
Key Insights
- We use the podcast to create various pieces of content When discussing the advantages of running a podcast we often talk about how it is more than audio and creators can use it to create other forms of content Heres how the Kolbe team does it I do a 40-minute episode with my CEO and that turns into two blogs that turn into four or five cut-down videos that turn into a sales email or a newsletter It is just the simplest system that I think we can get
- Paid social helps us reach out to both existing and new customers Not only do the companies looking to create a solid online appearance and expand their customer base work on organic distribution but they also focus on paid marketing campaigns We have a pretty robust email list but all those people arent necessarily following us on social I want that content to get in front of them So in terms of paid I do top of the funnel new people who I want should learn that we exist But then I also do campaigns to our existing customers or our existing partnerships because I know that they engage with it and they will amplify it
- The material we get from podcast episodes has done wonders for us when used in paid marketing campaigns Thus if you still wonder whether a podcast could be a valuable addition to your marketing strategy the results Kolbes marketing team has gotten may be the confirmation you seek Weve added the How did you hear about us field on all our forms on the website and within a month of launching the podcast I saw a noticeable uptick in I heard it from the podcast Ive seen a noticeable uptick in people coming from LinkedIn Even if I dont have a link in the ad which I often dont its just an educational video But they will go on to Kolbe take it and put in the field Howd you find out about us Your podcast
Episode Highlights
The podcast has become the central point of our content and product marketing strategy
Sometimes if you want written content to get out the door especially at a company where lots of people have opinions that can be a pain in the butt
I found that my subject matter experts and my leadership team love to talk They look good on camera they sound good on audio And when I ask them questions they spit out gold and we can get something out in a day versus if we wanted a white paper an e-book or an article which would take weeks months or longer
And now that I put people onto a podcast and we have a set way to distribute every episode our content marketing function has exploded
The how-to behind the organic content distribution
We have a robust email list So every other week weve got a company newsletter going to some of our consultants or our highest engaged customers and also to some other folks we want to re-engage with
Everything gets scheduled The blog is scheduled on LinkedIn Were doing a fair amount on Facebook Weve got about five robust Facebook communities So we drop video or blog content into those communities to see what resonates with folks And thats when we turn on the paid distribution
Pieces of content used for paid marketing campaigns and the overall process
Most often it is the video clips Itll be one minute maybe some of them are 90 seconds Im using LinkedIn and YouTube And so it depends on the episode and piece of information that is being provided
Im trying to get that to people that I think we can close right away Also my CEO or my president are explaining the theory why its important and how it fits into the current marketplace So I put some of those to our top-of-the-funnel folks who have never heard of us but I think should hear about us
We had a guest recently who was pretty well-known in the COOCEO space And I didnt even wait for the blogs to be produced or the episode to launch I grabbed some of those clips and I was like I know who I need to get these in front of
How to quantify the success of your show powered by instinct as an example
I used to say I didnt care how many people downloaded it but then I started looking at the stats and Im like I care how many people downloaded each episode And Ive been pleasantly surprised So one measure of success is the downloads
Another measure of success is Is this helping my content distribution plan for the year Does this still help me get content out the door And it does
It also helps with product marketing We had a meeting a few weeks ago about Q4 with my leadership and sales team and they were like We need to push this product What campaign can you launch And its easy for me now because I can say What guest is the best for talking about that on the podcast
Well have a guest talk about this specific product get a new blog about it distribute it in the newsletter and have a link to the product at the bottom It becomes this whole campaign that starts by having one conversation on the podcast
The other thing Ill add is that weve got 800 or so external consultants and it also serves as content for them So its not only working as content for me to sell to other companies but also my external consultants are using it to sell to their clients