How to produce successful B2B podcasts
A good podcast is now simply part of the digital scene. However, a study by the Marketing Club Austria shows that this form of communication is still new territory for many companies in the B2B sector. Read here what is needed for successful B2B podcasts.
Our digital media landscape has always been in a state of rapid change. New formats, tools, platforms or other "internet phenomena" are constantly emerging, which sooner or later are also used by companies for their marketing. One of these phenomena is the Podcast. Although the former "audioblog" has only been experiencing a real boom for a few years, the idea came up as early as 2000.
A corresponding Google search spits out the following fun facts on the subject: One of the first producers of a podcast was the American MTV presenter Adam Curry. The German translation is "Internet listening diary". The word podcast itself is a compound of iPod and broadcast.
But why are we actually telling you this? Quite simply: B2B Podcasts are becoming more and more relevant in the media mix of companies. Best practice examples of successful B2C podcasts are already a dime a dozen. Yet a podcast is not a marketing tool in the classic sense that delivers measurable financial success in the short term.
Why B2B podcasts should not be missing from the marketing mix
Content for the ears is first and foremost a tool for brand building, lead generation and establishing one's own expert status. Through authenticity, one achieves a high recognition value of one's own brand. In addition, a confidential atmosphere is created through the voice, executives and other experts of the company can show themselves as approachable persons and approachability in turn creates sympathy.
Another advantage of the podcast is that the brand messages reach the target group in extremely intimate moments, such as in the evening on the sofa or alone in the car, and thus stick more strongly in their minds. According to the Digital News Report Network Austria 2021, podcasts are already used by 32.4 percent of the population, an increase of four percentage points since 2020. They are most often used to listen to news, politics or international events (13.9 percent) or specific topics such as science and technology (12.2 percent).
Don't cut corners with the podcast
What do you have to consider when producing a B2B podcast? First of all, the content is crucial for the success of the format. Let your creativity run free here. Talk about the latest trends in the industry, give an insight into how processes are handled in the company, use the podcast for staff training or even let it become the extended arm (or in this case the enlarged ear) of customer service to clarify frequently occurring questions. The important thing is to find a niche that fits your business, create unique content that listeners won't find easily elsewhere, or develop new approaches to a popular topic.
The second step is to decide on a rhythm in which the podcast should appear. Whether daily, weekly or monthly is actually irrelevant, the central question is: Do you have enough content to maintain your rhythm continuously? If the podcast suddenly stops appearing at the usual time, you may lose many listeners. Above all, consider professional or private changes of your key personnel, holiday periods or other personnel bottlenecks.
Last but not least, the podcast naturally requires sufficient technology, a suitable room and a speaker. Do not underestimate the time and personnel required for the preparation, production, editing and publication of the podcast! Although these can be produced inexpensively in-house today, you should never save money in the wrong place.
The podcast expert from B2Impact, Joy Reisinger, has already accompanied and implemented numerous B2B podcasts from the beginning and knows exactly how it works: "In principle, it either depends on whether the customer wants to make a podcast completely themselves in order to promote it on their own platform or only wants to promote the company in the form of a jingle. A jingle usually consists of a two-line text referring to the company as the sponsor of the podcast. The third possibility is that the customer makes statements as an interview partner within the framework of one of our magazine podcasts."
With option one, B2Impact supports the entire production process, from the realisation and production of the jingle to the creation of the intro and outro. The client then receives the file at his or her free disposal. In the second option, our trained expert records the jingles and underlays them with a music bed in accordance with the company's CI.
Anyone who would like to convince themselves of our expertise is cordially invited to the Industry magazine podcasts to listen in. The podcast is produced by Joy Reisinger, IM editor-in-chief Rudolf Loidl and the two editors Daniela Hamberger and Daniel Pohselt and can be accessed via Soundcloud, Spotify, Google Podcast and Apple Podcast subscribe.
Still a lot of potential for B2B podcasts
So a good podcast is now simply part of the digital scene. A Study of the Marketing Club Austria in cooperation with the Austrian Marketing Confederation AMC of summer 2021 shows, however, that this form of communication is still new territory for many companies in the B2B sector. Fifty-seven per cent of companies state that they have not yet used podcasts. Almost half of them say that they have not yet had time to deal with the topic and that they lack knowledge.
It is probably also problematic that the success of a B2B podcast is difficult to measure compared to other marketing channels. Quantitative metrics such as the number of subscribers or downloads are not very meaningful in themselves, as it is never certain whether the episodes have even been listened to. Other metrics are available depending on the hosting platform, but as with almost all digital measures, qualitative feedback in the form of reviews, star ratings and messages on social media are an important source of information for B2B podcasts.
So - don't be shy! Give it a try. As the saying goes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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