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Writer's picturestevendeebrown

The Podcast in B2B Marketing

I'm a Podcast consumer - primarily while walking the dog or running errands - those solo moments when I can go deep on some of my personal favorite topics. I admit to being so absorbed by the experience that I'm taken away from the moment...I often arrive at my destination not recalling anything about the journey. And I've been pondering whether a podcast is a practical medium for corporate and executive communications.

I was recently interviewed for a podcast episode on the topic of B2B marketing. You can find the episode here. The Podcast host is strategically using it as a networking mechanism, either for potential guests, building his audience, and opening up consulting opportunities. When I cleared my appearance with our PR team, they were amazed at the rapid growth in his Podcast audience. When I inquired about this growth, he said there were two key episodes that dramatically expanded his visibility, so the gig was on.


The host and I first connected on LinkedIn, and then we had a planning discussion. He was well prepared to inquire about my experiences and viewpoints on B2B marketing, and I was impressed with the detailed notes he took of our conversation. This became apparent when he sent me 10 questions for the Podcast episode, setup like an interview discussion. These prompted me to note ideas for each question. Thank goodness they were just a few key points and not more detailed script, because during the interview our conversation diverged substantially from the plan as we chased a couple of comments for further elaboration.


The overall experience was very positive and it prompted me to consider our own use of Podcasts for corporate story telling, and in particular executive communications. I've been exploring the pros and cons, thinking about the ROI and in particular the opportunity cost of investing in a Podcast, versus other formats and forums.


Our Investor Relations team has told me repeatedly that investors like to hear from executives beyond the CEO and CFO. The quarterly earnings calls are informative and detailed, but access to the broader executive management team gives more color to the personalities involved and the priorities and strategies that each individual executive will ply in their particular organization and responsibilities. We have been using executive viewpoint articles, on trends and important product strategy and news, as well as videos as I wrote about in my blog Smartphone Executive Communications Videos. We host these videos on our website and on Youtube, but they aren't organized in a single channel (yet). So a Podcast would be another way to organize how these executives expand their visibility. But is it a necessary addition? Is the visual power of video the superior outlet on its own?


Another question I ponder is who would be the host of a Podcast? With video the only necessary person is the executive. Podcasts typically have a host who is either the subject matter expert sharing that information. Or they are conducting interviews with the subject matter experts. Would we need a single host? Could it be done with a team of hosts, if necessary? Do we have the executives make an appearance without a host - but isn't that a reduced form of our videos?


Part of the marketing mechanism of a Podcast is you follow it. Either because of the host or the guests, but certainly because of the topic. Episodes are pushed into your feed as they are published. Building a following for that is no small feat and in B2B the audience may be a bit fickle about such commitment. Therefore it would need to be promoted on social to get attention and an audience. In that case is it really a Podcast? Or just an audio interview? Does it stand out in contrast to an executive video? Is the audience seeking sources of information that are proactive?


I also wonder about the frequency of such a podcast. If it's weekly, could we rally 50 episodes a year? If you have 10 executives, that's 5 each. If you want to limit to 5 executives, that's 10 episodes a year each. Could you mix in product episodes? Or trends episodes?


I'm still searching for answers to these and other questions. And I'm looking for examples of B2B video and Podcast strategies. Share your thoughts or examples!

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