Recorded Content - Helping B2B marketers use a podcast for content marketing

Podcasts have drawn the attention of both older generations (because of their similarity to the radio) and younger folks who are into just about everything that can be consumed digitally. In addition, podcasts have become a powerful tool companies can use as part of their content strategy.

But, it has become clear that running a podcast is more than just owning a mic and pressing the record button. Also, there is a major difference between creating just another fluffy interview versus creating actionable content that helps your audience. In order to truly benefit your ideal customer, podcast creators must focus on producing valuable, entertaining, and educational pieces while also ensuring episodes don't sound too scripted.

In this episode of Recorded Content, our host Tristan Pelligrino welcomes Ben Sailer, the Inbound Marketing Director at CoSchedule. Ben is an experienced writer, marketer, and podcast host. Ben hosts the Actionable Marketing podcast, a show which has been a part of CoSchedule’s marketing strategy for nearly 7 years. Ben and Tristan discuss the difference between actionable and fluffy podcast episodes, the importance of preparation, and how to tie your podcast into your overall content marketing strategy.

When you are considering a podcast as part of your marketing strategy, choosing a niche and determining your target audience are just the beginning of the process. A podcast is also much more than just chatting with your guests each and every week.

In fact, our host Justin Brown said, ''It takes a village to put these things together.''

But how do you measure the success of your company’s podcast? How do you know it’s working for your company and your audience?

Many companies struggle to determine how to measure the success of their podcast. Download numbers are a metric to consider, but the overall impact of your show goes way beyond the number of subscribers.

In this episode, Christian Klepp, the Co-Founder of EINBLICK joins Justin Brown to talk about how EINBLICK measures the success of their own podcast. The two also get into details around the skills, tools, and processes required for creating, hosting, producing, distributing, and repurposing podcast episodes.

Launching a one-woman show already sounds challenging. Aside from finding guests and searching for the right questions, a solo podcaster has to think about the production, the recording tools, and the best ways to keep the audience interested in the podcast episode.

In this episode of Recorded Content, our host Justin Brown welcomes Meredith Metsker, the Content Marketing Manager at Stonly and the host of Beyond the Queue, a podcast for customer experience (CX) leaders. Justin and Meredith have an exciting chat about creating a successful podcast, whether you're recording at a professional studio or at your home.

Meredith reveals why it is better to start an episode with conflict-type questions instead of asking the guest to tell us something about themselves. In fact, she believes it is one of the ways to help the audience avoid boredom.

Tune in to find out more about the tools needed to start a podcast, whether or not to write a script before an interview, and the best methods to measure episode success, aside from numbers.

Today, practically everyone has at least one social media account, if not several. We share every detail of our lives, both personal and professional, on social media. Employees share information like company milestones, details of what they are working on, and other forms of company information. According to Statista, 91.9% of marketers in major companies are expected to use social media as part of their jobs in 2021.

But, companies aren’t getting as much as they can from the information shared out of their podcast. Usually, the host posts the link to a new episode when it goes live, and the company's social channels broadcast it. But what about all the employees? One of the biggest marketing opportunities for companies is to involve their employees in the distribution of their podcast.

According to Tristan Pelligrino, Co-Founder of Motion, it’s not that employees don’t want to share content, they just don’t know how. In this episode of Recorded Content, Tristan and his Co-Founder Justin Brown discuss some ideas on how you can get your employees to create powerful and organic content related to the company’s podcast.

Over the last couple of years, podcasts have become an indispensable marketing tool. They are practically a gold mine of content that allows you to reach new audiences, drive engagement to your website and provide a ton of value.

But podcasting requires a bit more involvement than just speaking into the microphone. It takes research, strategic effort, and some technical expertise to get your podcast on the right track.

In the latest episode of Recorded Content, Tristan welcomes John Tyreman, podcast expert and host of the Digital Marketing Troop podcast. They get into the technical side of podcasting, how to ensure that you're consistently putting out quality content and why a podcast is a great way to highlight the experts within your organization.

 When you record a podcast, it’s always good to be prepared, especially when your guest is an influencer in your industry. Since your podcast is an extension of you and your company, you want the guest to have a great experience. And most importantly, you want the episode to be relevant to your audience. 

But many podcast hosts, especially newer ones, don’t prepare as much as they should. They end up with a list of questions but nothing else. And they aren’t able to get good content from their guests. 

That’s why it’s important to have a podcast script. In this episode of Recorded Content, Justin Brown and Tristan Pelligrino talk about the importance of having a script to foster an excellent conversation with your guest and provide quality content to your listeners. 

Many B2B marketers realize the benefits of a podcast. Your company gets a chance to hear from customers, connect with experts and influencers, and share perspectives on industry trends.

But even when marketers know they need a podcast, most B2B marketers don’t know when to start. Is it better to get the company up and running first? Should you wait for product/market fit? Should a podcast be part of the initial launch of the company?

Brett McGrath, VP of Marketing at The Juice, a company that just launched last year, started developing The 3C Podcast before he was even officially hired. In this episode, Brett talks with host Tristan Pelligrino about when to start a B2B podcast, the importance of getting content creators out of their siloes, and how podcasts can help new businesses share their work.

Launching a podcast sounds like a lot of fun, but most companies don’t do it because it also looks like a ton of work. Or, there’s pressure to justify a short-term ROI in terms of sales or immediate opportunities. 

Podcasting, however, has plenty of advantages when you think about it from a broader perspective. In the latest episode of Recorded Content, Tyfone’s Josh DeTar talks about what it was like to launch the company’s first podcast, the Digital Banking podcast, and shares the biggest lessons he’s learned along the way. 

Josh’s successful venture into podcasting began by identifying a clear purpose for the Digital Banking podcast. The objectives involved focusing on learning from others and connecting with people. Having these primary goals defined, helped the show get off on the right foot and allowed Josh to approach the recording sessions with an open mind. There was no pressure to sell to guests or to capture a lead. 

Josh also breaks down how Tyfone uses the company’s podcast. He details how to get started, identifies where the podcast fits into his sales process, and explains his system for distribution.

There are over 48 million published podcast episodes today and it’s 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 what’s 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 company’s 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. 

Is the phrase “build it and they will come” the primary strategy behind your podcast distribution plan? If it is, then that’s a problem. And it’s one experienced by too many podcasters. In the latest episode of Recorded Content, the co-founders of Motion and hosts of Recorded Content explain why a podcast is much more than an audio file that gets distributed through platforms like iTunes.

During the episode, Tristan and Justin discuss some of the challenges that companies face with podcast distribution and how to create an effective distribution plan for your company’s show.

Without a clear repurposing plan and strategy, it’s easy to give up in those early days and it’s even harder to convince the company’s leadership team that there’s an ROI. Give your podcast a fighting chance with the strategies covered in this week’s episode.