As a small team, you are often competing against much larger and more well funded teams. This is especially true in terms of content. Leveraging a podcast as a foundational asset can be a very efficient way to feed a variety of content types.

We will talk with James Furbush about what mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets needed to build and execute a content strategy with a small team and minimal budget, to drive significant results. 

Mindsets:

• Don’t let perfect get in the way of the good - just get started
• Take your time to get people onboard with major mindshift projects
• Set clear expectations upfront
• Work parallel work streams to both capture demand that exists and deliver quick wins for sales, while you work on building net new demand
• Focus on creating a content engine, not just individual pieces of content

Skillsets:

• Learn to be a journalist to effectively ask questions to capture quality content
• You need to get your reps in. Nobody wakes up and knows how to be a great interviewer
• Nurture and leverage your network to build your initial guest pipeline
• Building a guest pipeline is no different than managing a sales pipeline
• Focus on the guest experience - how do you make them feel good about being involved?

Toolsets:

• Riverside.fm - this episode was recorded on Streamyard, but we have since switched to Riverside as well.
• Descript - we actually use Descript a ton for quick and dirty videos even though our podcast is professionally post-produced.
• Canva for creative templates (including video templates)

Results:

The company James works for was recently acquired, and the podcast helped build their brand presence.

Proofpoint’s POV:

We have talked about the value of podcasts with several guests in the past (Jason Bradwell, and our very own James Ricks before he became a Proofpointer 😁) and obviously we are all about it ourselves as the podcast is our core content engine.

That said, something we didn’t get into the weeds enough with James here, are the various ways a podcast can be leveraged and worked into your overall marketing strategy, so here they are:

Partnerships

• Have target reseller/channel partners as guest or co-hosts of your show
• Have software/integration partners as guests or co-hosts of your show
• Repurpose partner webinars as podcast episodes
• Have target influencers as guests on the show

ABM

• Invite people from your target accounts to be guests on the show, and then use the guest experience as a way to create more touchpoints and a better relationship
  
• Use target guest episodes as ways to get in front of similar target accounts (e.g. by region)
• Demand Generation
  • Interview internal SMEs to promote your POV, build your category, and show your expertise
  • Promote internal SME interviews to target accounts via paid ads
  • Turn episode recaps and show notes into SEO-optimized content. Research top searched questions and tailor your interviews to answer them.
• Sales Enablement
  • Give your BDRs a different outbound playbook to run - invite guests to the show
  • Show BDRs and AEs how to leverage episode content in their outreach and follow-ups
  • Have some AEs on the show as SMEs, so they can get their names and faces out there as experts in the field/industry

Bonus:

If you want to hear us talk about parenting successes (and fails) and reminisce about how our kids don’t get how we did things “back in the day”, stick around till the lightning round at the end of the episode.

A bit more about James:

James is a former journalist and staff writer, turned content marketer and marketing leader. He is currently the VP of Marketing at AccessOne. He is a craft beer and single source pour over coffee connoisseur, though he won’t judge you for drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee or a Bud Light. 

Helpful Links & Resources:

• Connect with James on LinkedIn
• Check out the AccessOne podcast

Connect with Mike & Gaby at Proofpoint:

• Mike’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegrinberg/
• Gaby’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellaisrael/
• LinkedIn Company Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/proofpoint-marketing-llc
• Proofpoint YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/ProofpointonYouTube
• Proofpoint Website: www.proofpoint.marketing