As you peel back the layers of shiny wrapping paper in anticipation of what might be inside, you can’t help but smile a little. Who doesn’t love opening gifts?! But then you see it. The sweater that you would never wear. The perfume that smells like your grandma’s. The home decor item that doesn’t fit your style in any way, shape, or form.
Nothing feels worse than getting a gift that isn’t you at all. It’s disappointing and worse, makes you feel unseen and unknown.
Now think back to when you’ve opened a present that has your name all over it. That feeling of delight and gratitude that washes over you. The warm feelings of being known, appreciated, and seen. (Or maybe that’s just the holiday boozy eggnog talking.)
So what does any of this have to do with marketing? Everything. (Well, except maybe not the eggnog.)
When you give your prospects and customers the gift of personalized content and experiences, you build rapport, serve them well, and simply delight them. This isn’t just a kind and generous thing to do, it’s super business savvy.
And wouldn’t you know it, there’s a name for this personalized strategy. ABM—Account-Based Marketing. Our smart friends at HubSpot dished up a great definition for ABM:
“Account-based Marketing (ABM) is a focused growth strategy in which Marketing and Sales collaborate to create personalized buying experiences for a mutually-identified set of high-value accounts. ... ABM helps your business work and communicate with high-value accounts as if they're individual markets.”
Here at Casted, we are all about strategic collaboration between sales and marketing teams. And we believe this power duo can leverage podcasts within an ABM strategy to delight prospects and existing customers like never before.
What is Account-Based Podcasting?
Enter ABP. (I know, I know...who needs another acronym? But this one is totally worth it, I promise.) ABP, or Account-Based Podcasting, simply means targeting high-value accounts with, you guessed it, your podcast!
Account-Based Podcasting allows you to create and distribute podcast content in a highly-targeted, personalized way that resonates with your ideal customers. Instead of leaning into personas or overall markets your company wants to connect with, you drill down deeper and serve the actual people and companies you want fruitful relationships with.
Your ABP content will speak to specific people’s pain points, dreams, goals, desires, and serve them well in concrete ways. In other words, you give (content) gifts that are meaningful, value-packed, and that the recipients will treasure because they are customized and relevant.
Examples of Account-Based Podcasting
All this probably sounds well and good, right? But where to even start with ABP? Here are a few examples of how this can play out:
Earn trust with unique brand expertise.
First things first, your podcast offers a wealth of unique-to-you expertise. Even if your podcast features popular industry experts who do the rounds on the podcast circuit, every interview they do results in a different experience and interaction on every show, resulting in incredibly meaningful content for the audience. But further that, because there is no brand out there like yours, every guest and conversation you have builds a unique brand expertise that can help you earn trust and build relationships with listeners. By featuring the unique expertise featured on every show in personalized playlists, targeted clips, and content for your target prospect, you have the chance to offer them something no one else can—an intimate experience with experts who are speaking directly to their challenges.
Create meaningful content together.
Salespeople are geniuses at getting to know individuals—learning what fires them up and what struggles keep them up at night. The next time your team sits down to brainstorm ways to wring out your podcast content, invite your sales team in on the process. Ask them to get involved by identifying topics within episodes that map back to prospects’ key problems. This can help marketers identify additional value in every podcast episode by identifying content that can serve more areas of the business! This is also an easy way to help your sales team better understand how valuable your podcast content is and help them create meaningful content for their target prospects.
Serve up personalized playlists.
Why not create a modern mix tape for your prospects? Compiling audio content that speaks directly to what’s on the hearts and minds of your prospects is a powerful way to dish up helpful, relevant information. Handpick podcast episodes that you know they’ll love and package them up for your prospects to brighten their day and arm them with info that will move the needle.
Embed customized clips.
Audio clips are perfect for creating an impactful multimedia experience. Take it up a notch and create personalized clips for a specific prospect that you can sprinkle throughout content you’re sharing with them. Speak directly to their pain points, hopes, and dreams to create a powerful, personal feel that will keep them coming back for more.
As marketers, we know that sales always boils down to relationships. And just like with any relationship, the more you can get personal, stay authentic, and be real, the better. Creating deeply personalized content—especially when it’s served up in an intimate audio experience—will delight your prospects and turn them into lifelong customers, and hopefully friends, too.
Let us give you the gift of knowing you are delighting your prospects again and again—and seeing the ROI you need. We can help you leverage your podcast to do just that with our all-in-one podcast platform made just for our marketing friends. Schedule a Casted demo today!
