Podcasting in B2B is new. That’s okay. New is good. But sometimes, especially when times are tough and money is scarce, new can be scary.
Ever since the global crisis began, we’ve watched company after company turn to two major outlets as their alternative to in-person events: Webinars and Virtual Events.
While these mediums are great and have a rightful claim to being in the conversation, there is one being left out only because it’s new in B2B: Podcasting.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Dave Gerhardt, CMO at Privy and host of a popular B2B Patreon group called “The A List” said if he had $500 to his name and wanted to start a business, the first place he’d turn would be a podcast.
Now, Dave is a podcast guru to be sure, but there’s rationale behind it. Why, if a CMO could do ANYTHING, would he choose a podcast over other mediums?
Podcasting is a fast way to engage clients and prospects
Instead of reaching out to clients prospects and asking them to jump on your demo (especially in times like these where few companies are in “buy” mode), you can ask them to be featured as a guest on your podcast.
It establishes the same end result you were hoping for – a genuine conversation with your ideal customer – without having to push your product on someone who doesn’t think they’re going to buy anything today.
You will get to spend an hour with this person on the podcast interview. They’ll talk all about what they’re experiencing, pains they’re having, roadblocks in their job, etc.. and if by chance, your product or service happens to solve that problem, well then afterward you can simply say “hey, I’ve had a great time today. I know you mentioned X and my company actually helps with that. Would you be open to learning more?”
Again, you’ve just spent an hour getting to know this person and are featuring them in a highlight piece. Guards are down, your guest is in a good mood. Should be an easy conversation. And if it doesn’t make sense right now to try to move to the next step, you just had an hour conversation with someone you wanted to meet and will also end up publishing a bunch of thought leadership content out of it.
So basically, in your worst-case scenario, you get to have an hour-long meeting with your ideal customer and have a piece of premium content that will be co-branded with their company.
Best-case scenario, you got pain and can solve their problems. In this new normal, people still have business problems that need solving. If you can position correctly, you can still help people and sell your solution.
Podcasting is a lighter lift than a webinar series
The podcast format flips the webinar format on its head. While the webinar format is done much more infrequently, each one is like a content Super Bowl. It’s a big to-do. Hard-hitting guest. Revolutionary presentation. Guests in attendance live. The goal is to get as many leads as possible out of each episode.
The podcast flips that model on its head. The goal is to convert the actual guest. Listeners are great and you hope you can get a few leads here and there from listeners, but the real goal is the person you’re talking to. They are who you’re focused on for each episode.
Unlike a webinar, you can do multiple podcasts per month. 3, 5, 8 episodes each month? At the most simple of levels, all you’re doing is recording an interview with your ideal customer. It’s not live. There’s no audience. There’s no official presentation. Just a conversation. If you get a rhythm with good questions and a solid approach, you can produce these quickly and in high volume – talking to lots of folks you could only wish would give you an hour of their time.
To execute a webinar you need: presentation, live audience, good questions, good guest that will drive live engagement, webinar software.
To execute a podcast you need: recording software, a guest… headphones with a mic?
The Tech Qualified podcast provides B2B technology marketers with access to real world case studies and best practices. We interview industry leaders to uncover what is working in the world of B2B technology marketing.
Podcast episodes can be repurposed in a variety of formats
Now, to really take your podcast to the next level, you’ll want to do more than just record an interview. A podcast can be a huge part of your content strategy if done the right way. Podcast episodes, as Dave mentioned, can be repurposed into blogs and social media posts. You can do a monthly wrap-up and send over episodes as a newsletter. You can make short videos around the topics.
There are dozens of pieces of content you can develop from each hour-long conversation and no shortage of add-ons you can build around it.
Written by Justin Brown
Justin is the Co-Founder of Motion. With a background in Marketing, Communications and Sales, Justin brings a wealth of experience working with some of the world’s fastest growing B2B tech companies. After steering a video production company into the Inc. 5000 as the Head of Sales and Marketing, he started Motion where he now helps build marketing strategies for some of the most innovative B2B tech companies in the country. You can find him on LinkedIn.
