So, what makes a great B2B podcast?
Like most things, it’s all relative. What’s captivating for one listener may not be for another. The key is to develop a podcasting strategy and content that works for your brand and your audience — not simply replicating what you see executed on Apple’s Top Shows list.
What makes a podcast unique? Examine your show from every angle, from ideating topics to series promotion, from audience engagement to format and post-production. It’s worth taking the time to really consider what you’re dishing up (and for whom) and how you’re putting it out there.
How do you know if you’re building the best possible show for your listeners? Take it from a few of our favorite podcast hosts and business leaders, who know a thing or two about building content that resonates.
Generating ROI comes from meeting the needs of the people who fund and/or support the investment. In the podcasting world, that means putting out content that uniquely fits the desires and personalities of those who have sought out your show — namely, your audience. Here's advice from Tom Webster, former SVP of Marketing and Strategy for Edison Research on keeping your listeners and viewers foremost in mind:
"For every choice that you make and every decision, every aspect of content that you decide to put in or leave out of your show, really make it an audience-first decision and not a company-first decision, because people will smell that," Tom says. "That's not what people are looking for. So if you genuinely make audience-focused decisions, if everything is on the side of the audience, then you can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. But that also means learning more about your audience. And I think it can be a dangerous thing for a company to start a podcast and not know enough about its audience before they really start going into it."
Perhaps your audience doesn’t want the same thing from you as the top B2B podcasts out there, Tom suggests. Not every listener has time for an hour-long show or endless banter at the episode’s start. Read the reviews, observe which shows perform best, and serve up content that keeps your audience coming back for more.
Meet the “Golden Rule” of podcasting: “Podcast unto others what you would want podcasted to you.” (Okay, that’s not official.) The point is that if you wouldn’t listen to irrelevant, unstructured content, then how can you expect others to?
Jeremy Donovan, host of the Hey Salespeople podcast, takes this approach when he interviews guests: Instead of coming to the table with a list of structured questions that guests must generate an answer for, he probes them about what challenges/topics they most want to discuss. Here are Jeremy's tips for podcast interviews:
"I align on topic in the first 5 to 10 minutes before we start recording," Jeremy says. "So I don't put any burden on the guests to sort of premeditate that. And part of my motivation there is when I'm invited to be a guest, I want to talk about what's top of mind for me right now. So if this were a sales podcast, I'd be talking about forecasting, which is very top of mind right now for me, and put other things out of my mind to focus on that. So one is that alignment on topic at the very beginning.
"Two is, since I'm a reading nut, I always ask people at the beginning rather than at the end, because I know a lot of podcasters will ask at the end, 'What's your favorite book?' I ask that at the beginning, and then we geek out on books for a little while. And then we just go into the topic, and I have no structured questions, I'm just trying to actively listen, probe, and keep the threads going. Like if someone hasn't completed something, I just think as a listener, that thread needs to get completed. So I just put myself a little note that I asked a question that maybe didn't get answered fully, or if I were a listener, tell me more. Don't just tell me what, tell me how, because I really want people to walk away from the podcast with actionable insight."
Any successful podcaster will tell you that producing a show is so much more than the voice behind the microphone or the face on the camera. As the showrunner, you still help create content for and around each episode.
Chad Sanderson, host of the B2B Revenue Executive Experience podcast, has these tips for podcast hosts to keep in mind:
"I have to ask myself, is this an episode I would actually listen to?" Chad shares. "Because again, time's the only asset we can't get back, so if I'm not being entertaining, if the audio quality is horrible, if the guest isn't, let's say, overly energetic or they're not expressive vocally, then I've got to make some moves to make sure we're, do something, to get to a topic or get to a subject that's going to make them comfortable or emote more. That requires a level of vulnerability on my side that I don't think I was prepared for. I had the assumption that if all you hear is my voice, then I'm safe, right? I don't have to open up as much.
"That is completely not the case. It actually is the opposite. It requires a higher level of energy and a higher level of focus to really capture somebody when all you have to do that with is the sound of your voice or the exchange you're having with another person. It's a long journey. I'm a hell of a lot better than it used to be, but I'm nowhere near as polished or as good as I would like to be."
One of the great things about long-form content (be it whitepapers, videos, or podcasts) is that it can be broken down into smaller takeaways for greater longevity. Our good friend and rockstar podcaster Jay Baer views episodes as more of a collection of thoughts than a single entity, making it easier to spread snackable content across different channels later. Here's his advice on how to prepare for a podcast episode with content amplification in mind:
"Yeah, it's an episode," Jay says. "But what is an episode? An episode is a series of great moments that all just happened to be recorded at the same time. If you think of your episode as just that, not as one thing, but as six, eight,10, 15 things, all of a sudden the way you merchandise the value of your podcast changes dramatically.
"I mean, I think it's just like music, right? So, artists still create what I would call an album because I am old, but they still create in many cases and release a collection of songs. It might be eight songs, it might be 14 songs, but it's a collection of songs... But amongst that collection of songs, there's always one or two that are better, that just stand out. Those are the singles if you will. What we have to do is stop thinking of podcasts as an album and start thinking of a podcast episode as a series of singles. What's the hit single in this conversation? And then use that to merchandise the show and your brilliance and what have you."
You and your brand are uniquely positioned to speak on the topic of your business. Don’t let that expertise go to waste. You're not only entertaining and informing your audience, but you're setting yourself apart from other podcasts with less focused messaging. Sam Jacobs, host of the Sales Hacker podcast, offers up these expert tips:
"I have a perspective and a point of view," Sam explains. "And my perspective and point of view is that in any type of these interactions, I'm trying as much as possible to probe below the generic surface and get at something interesting. I think the other part of it is that my specific background and expertise, which is in building companies and being a sales or revenue leader, gives me, A) credibility, and then B) helps me provide and ask much more specific questions and much more tactical questions. Because, again, what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to think about it from the perspective of the listener...
"I'm trying to uncover the specific details. The reason that I can do that is probably because I come from the industry of the people that I'm interviewing. I know the jargon, I know the vernacular, and I also understand their job. If I did not have any of that, I think it would be much more difficult."
There’s more than one way to build an audience for your show, and they can come from both internal and external environments. For Sangram Vajre, host of FlipMyFunnel and Co-Founder of Terminus, podcasting is a community affair — not simply a solo “talking head.” Here are his podcast guest tips:
“Without a community, you’re simply a commodity,” Sangram says. “This is not a Sangram show. This is for all of us to be a part of.”
Sangram regularly lines up guests for the show both from inside Terminus and throughout the larger marketing community. By expanding the messaging source beyond just himself and his colleagues, the content flows without ceasing and buzz spreads faster.
One of the most common questions we get asked is how to best promote shows and get more listeners. Lucky for you, the podcasting community is a close-knit one. As Stephanie Cox, host of Mobile Matters and VP of Sales and Marketing at Lumavate, advises, sometimes all you have to do is ask.
“I’m willing to share a lot with other people because I believe in paying it forward,” Stephanie says. “Don’t assume that you have to think through it all yourself.”
Want big-name guests like your favorite B2B podcast? Ask where they got the introduction. Need more reviews? Get advice from other hosts who have built a following. Wrestling through a logistics problem? Seek help from someone who lives and breathes that stuff.
Just remember this: You are not alone in your quest to build an epic podcast that drives business results. The best podcasts are built through collaboration and connection.
Whether you’re on the brink of launching a podcast or already have one, it pays big to be strategic. The principles of business and marketing apply in podcasting too, and automation, consistency, and replication will serve you well.
“Doing anything one time is not useful,” says Sam Jacobs. “It’s really about your ability to demonstrate you can do it consistently and show up every day.” This means getting creative about who you invite on the show and how you produce and promote it. Sam advises:
Building a better podcast doesn’t have to be a painful undertaking. It could be as simple as re-evaluating your content, recording more authentic conservations, and thinking outside the box in your promotion strategy.
For all of these things and more, Casted is here to make your life easier. From hosting and scheduling to activation and analytics, we make it easy to get more out of the unique stories your brand tells. Drop us a line, and tell us what’s top of mind.