Episode Summary
There are over 48 million published podcast episodes today and its more than any one person could possibly consume And yet people are still hungry for specific and timely content shared through the podcast format
Every company in B2B benefits from running a podcast It helps the company learn from customers connect with influencers and provide a perspective on whats happening in the industry
But most companies struggle to narrow in on their audience especially when their organization provides products or services to a variety of different personas Organizations often fall into the trap of creating a show for a more general audience instead of really diving into what specific groups of customers really care about
In this episode Jacob Miller the Marketing Brand Manager at Headway joins host Tristan Pelligrino to talk about the inspiration behind the companys three branded podcasts During the conversation Tristan and Jacob talk about how to build a podcast as you go how to decide whether or not to focus generally or narrow in and how systems and collaboration can help you and your team get the most from every episode
Guest Profile
Name: Jacob Miller
What he does: Marketing and Brand Manager at Headway
Company: Headway
Noteworthy: His passion for both energy and bears inspired Jacobs Twitter handle Kineticbear
Key Insights
- Build a minimum viable business Jacob says that the product worlds focus on developing minimum viable products MVPs is applicable to an entire business A product in and of itself can still fail if the other aspects of the business are missing which is why many companies need help in this area
- Even though theres a process to podcasting adding new shows gives you some flexibility Jacob talks about how Headway increased their branded podcasts from one to three He mentions how having different formats and release schedules gives them a chance to explore trends and try new things
- Spend less time going in the wrong direction When departments or people in a company are siloed theres more of a chance they get deep into a project before everyone else is on board Jacob mentions that marketers should focus on creating more collaboration opportunities to get everyone on the same page He believes getting team members involved earlier helps avoid wasted efforts and time
- If youre not famous you dont have leverage So the leverage is then speaking to specific people with a specific problem
Episode Highlights
STORYTELLING IS SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST WRITING CONTENT
A lot of people throw around the word storyteller I think a lot of people dont actually take the time to understand what that means and how that actually applies to their customers their business
According to Jacob one of the best ways to do this is to deeply understand your customer Doing interviews learning the persons story and learning how to ask better questions can all set business owners up for better success around their messaging and storytelling
You can create better content that they actually care about and want to read or listen to or watch a video
YOU DONT NEED TO NICHE BY INDUSTRY YOU CAN NICHE BY PROCESS INSTEAD
Jacob points out that Headway gets new customers from industries theyve never worked with before but its the process that the overall knowledge that makes the sale for them He says its about that company having the expertise in the industry which allows the company with the process offering to thrive by serving a broad audience with a specific process over and over
They have the expertise in the industry but we have the expertise in building a business not just a product that actually makes money
EMBRACE THE JOURNEY AS A PODCASTER
Theres a lot of pressure to wait to launch a podcast until youre the proven expert on a subject but Jacob points out that leaning into the lack of all knowledge builds a more authentic connection with his audience of founders
Nobody really knows what theyre doing when it comes to innovation And thats okay
Were here together to talk about it
They even took that same exploratory concept towards launching their second and third podcasts Since the company had already given themselves creative freedom they used their existing processes to give them some flexibility in terms of what the finished show looked like
YOU CANT JUST EVALUATE YOUVE GOT TO EXECUTE TOO
Speaking of perfectionism holding you back from launching Jacob also discussed how you can learn from your own clients when it comes to releasing something new in the world
Its far too easy to end up overthinking and over-evaluating your possible projects but you need the momentum to carry forward before you get sick of a project or bogged down in the details
Move slowly We need to follow the mindset that we give to our clients in that approach What do we know we can do How can we get that out and improve it after Sometimes we forget about that for ourselves because were so personally attached to the business We all like to have really great ideas and we all get excited
CREATE A FASTER FEEDBACK LOOP
To avoid spending too much time in the wrong direction use a faster feedback loop
So instead of assigning tasks and separating for a few dayswere sharing the Figma file or sharing a loom video Hey heres some feedback on what I think about this What do you think theyll reply with a loom video Because not everybody can meet at the same time sometimes
I actually really like working with all these different types of people It can feel chaotic at times but again the way that weve made it less chaotic is actually having a clear process that weve documented Everyone understands their responsibilities Everybody understands the timelines and the workflows of how it all works
Their team built templates for the podcast process like reaching out to guests or sending gifts after the fact as a few examples
CHOOSE THE RIGHT CHANNELS ITS OKAY TO DELETE
Consider this your official permission to not be active on all the possible social media channels This doesnt mean you have to abandon certain ones either You can pick and choose what makes the most sense for your business
Theyre breaking down shorter clips of bigger presentations to repurpose them and make it easier for their audience to digest Someone who doesnt have time to watch a 45 minute YoutTube podcast might still get value out of a two minute clip from it instead
If you want to make a show important that means stop spending time elsewhere
NICHE DOWN FOR BETTER LISTENERSHIP OVERALL
These days theres no shortage of podcasts to listen to Trying to keep your content too general might drive people to unsubscribe when they hear that one podcast episode not relevant to them
If youre really specific about a certain topic or problem somebody will care and that somebody is hopefully the segment that youre going after
So I think for us as much as it can sound like a little overwhelming to have like multiple showsyou will learn about how it works Then document it Then the focus becomes Lets make this better This feels like it takes too long How can we fix this Or maybe this person isnt the right person for this thing Who else can do it
Since your podcast process is iterative you might have to rely on the expertise brought to the table by others As a new person with no following you can use this strategy to grow your brand
If you arent famous you dont have leverage So the leverage is then speaking to specific people with a specific problem
