B2B Podcasting Best Practices in 2024
Starting a B2B podcast can be your gateway to forming strategic relationships with leaders and companies that will lead to new business.
To find success with your podcast though, you’ll want to use the proven tactics that B2B podcasters leverage to consistently create engaging episodes.
In this article, we’ll explore all of the best practices we use at Content Allies and that you should follow when launching and maintaining your B2B podcast.
Here’s a list of B2B Podcasting Best Practices:
Define your target buyer / listener
Brainstorm a show concept that speaks to your target buyer / listener
Interview your target customers & strategic partners
Research the podcast competition
Make sure every episode has a clear call to action
Invest in high-quality microphones
Use professional podcast recording software
Hire a podcast production agency or podcast producer
Repurpose your podcast into articles, videos, and social content
Ask your team & partners for 5-Star reviews
Stay consistent for at least 12 months
Plan and budget your podcast costs appropriately
Define your Target Buyer / Listener
Before starting your podcast journey, you need to get specific about what type of listeners you’re trying to target. With a B2B podcast, you’re not so much trying to appeal to the masses as you’re trying to grab the attention of potential buyers in your industry with targeted content marketing.
Think about who your ideal customers are and define the different personas. What topics do they want to hear about? You don’t have to get so narrow with your target listener that it limits the scope of your podcast, but you also don’t want to cast too wide of a net where your show loses its niche factor.
Brainstorm a Show Concept that Speaks to Your Target Buyer / Listener
Once you have a clear idea of who you’re targeting with your podcast, it’s time to develop a concept for the show that will speak to their needs and interests.
Put yourself in their shoes and think about what they would find valuable. Reflect upon what their pain points are and the type of information you can deliver in order for them to see you as a respected voice in the industry.
A good rule of thumb to help you think through this is to always tailor your show concept to your prospects instead of peers. Directing your show toward your peers isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not going to drive the new business you’re looking for.
For example, if you want to connect with B2B marketers, then you would want to set up a show where you as the podcast host interview B2B marketers within your niche and area of focus.
The whole goal is to build relationships with other respected leaders that may benefit from your services at some point. It’s not about having conversations with peers that offer similar services as yourself.
Research the Podcast Competition
When creating a podcast, it’s important to get a feel for your competition and the type of material they’ve already produced. With podcasting gaining so much popularity, it’s likely that there are other shows related to your niche. This shouldn’t discourage you though, because there are always ways to find new angles you can take within your specific niche.
For example, for companies trying to create a marketing podcast, you can narrow down to a specific vertical or subset of marketing instead of going for the high-level topic.
To do research, pull up iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, Google Podcasts, Pandora, or other podcast directories and search around some keywords for your show to see what already exists in the space.
It should be your goal to be the #1 podcast in your specific niche. If you think there’s too much competition in your niche to get to the top, you need to keep refining your niche and show concept in a way that separates you from the pack.
Choose Intro & Outro Music
Any podcast benefits from having intro and outro music that fits the theme of the show. For B2B podcasts, you don’t need anything complex, just something professional that resonates with you and your podcast listeners.
If you have the time, skills, and equipment to produce your own music, go ahead and have some fun with it.
But, most B2B leaders can find music they’d like for their show by using an online royalty-free music platform.
Here are two platforms to get you started:
Pond5
Envato Elements
How to Record High-quality Audio
Purchase a High-quality Microphone
Capturing high-quality content for your podcast starts with getting a good microphone. You don’t need to go top-of-the-line here, but you’ll want to choose a microphone that’s built well and has a track record of producing quality audio.
Here are a few suggestions:
Mpow USB Headset: $33.99
Rode NT USB Microphone: $119.99
Blue Yeti USB: $129.99
It’s also a good idea to get a microphone stand in order to keep your mic in place. This allows you to keep a consistent distance between you and your mic so that the audio quality stays the same throughout your interviews.
How to Record Remote Interviews
The easiest way to capture audio from your interviews is by using Zoom. This also allows you to record videos in case you want to repurpose your content. Just remember to adjust the audio and video settings to HD to boost the quality of your recordings.
Riverside is another tool that’s helpful to use instead of Zoom. Riverside will record a high-quality mp3 of your audio which can be used as a backup or your main audio file. Using Riverside can eliminate the gaps in audio that sometimes occur when strictly using Zoom.
Another alternative is a tool called Zencastr which is similar to Riverside, although Riverside is our preferred tool of choice.
It is possible to record podcast audio via Skype which was popular several years ago but we would not recommend that today.
Streamlined Episode Preparation
To streamline your podcast production, it’s helpful to pre-record your intro and outro snippets. You want these to be clean and polished so it makes sense to write and record these before your interview in order to get them exactly how you want.
You’ll also want to record any sponsor plugs before your interviews. Doing this beforehand respects your guest’s time and saves you from having to worry about it while your guest is in front of you.
Another element of your podcast you’ll want in order before your interviews is a list of go-to podcast questions. You don’t need to be rigid and only follow these questions, but it’s helpful to have these in front of you to help guide the interview. You never want to be in the middle of an interview and struggle to find your next question.
Choose Interesting Guests
When selecting guests for your podcast, focus on people that would be beneficial to form relationships with. In essence, you want to use your interviews for strategic networking and account-based marketing. Your interviews serve as an authentic way to build these relationships which can, in turn, drive new revenue for your business. At the same time you should learn valuable lessons through the interviews you are holding.
Your target guests should include a mix of:
Prospects
Partners
Industry Influencers / Thought Leaders / Authors
Industry Vendors / Software Providers
By focussing on a variety of strategic relationships, you become more embedded across all sectors of your target market.
Use a Booking Tool like Calendly
Once you gain some traction with your podcast, you’ll want an easy way for you to organize upcoming interviews. By using a booking widget, it lets your guests schedule and reschedule on their own time.
Hire a Podcast Production Agency
The main difficulty with starting a podcast is the amount of energy and talent it takes to produce high-quality episodes on a consistent basis.
Some try to tackle podcast production in-house and shortly after realize they just don’t have the time or resources to produce at the level they had hoped to.
That’s why for many companies and leaders, it makes sense to outsource their podcast to a podcast company or podcast consultant.
When you hire a production agency such as Content Allies, all of the details and hard work are handled for you. A full-service agency will offer you a suite of services which includes:
Guest scheduling
Audio and Video editing
Graphic design
Content writing
Publishing
Promotion
Project management
With all of these elements taken care of, you simply have to show up for your interviews and focus on having great conversations.
Repurpose & Promote your Podcasts
With a podcast, you’ll be generating so much great material that it becomes easy to craft all sorts of different content from your episodes. In a sense, your podcast can become the core of your content creation and all other efforts will revolve around it. Here is a list of podcast promotion services.
Repurpose Podcasts into Social Media Posts
Within your interviews, there will be many great insights and ideas that you can turn into shorter social media posts. These could be shorter video clips, audio clips, or even quote-based graphic posts. In our experience, it’s easy to create anywhere from 5-10 different social media posts from just one interview.
Repurpose Podcasts into SEO Optimized Blog Posts
The information from a podcast can be turned into SEO-optimized articles that boost your online presence and discoverability. Obviously, you won’t just be copying and pasting the interview transcript, but rather, you’ll take the key ideas and form a coherent article based on the interview.
How to Monetize a B2B podcast (Hint, it's not through ads & sponsors)
Generating new business from your podcast largely comes down to the relationships you form with strategic guests.
You boost your authority in the eyes of your prospects by hosting a niche podcast, which opens the door for them to refer you or to need your services at some point. Targeting people that you want to work with and inviting them on your show is the most effective way to get your foot in the door with that account.
If you do want to sponsor your podcast, sponsor it with your own business. You want people to know that you are the go-to resource to solve the pain points you talk about on your industry-specific podcast.
How to Promote your Podcast
To get your podcast in front of your audience, you’ll want to use a few different promotion tactics outside of regular social posting. One platform we recommend to increase your reach is QuuuPromote.com. By using QuuPromote, you further automate your promotion efforts while also getting your content pushed to people interested in your industry.
It’s also wise to utilize paid promotion on platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. This is really helpful to drive the initial traction for your episodes.
How to Rank your Podcast in Apple Podcasts
Ranking in Apple Podcasts will go a long way for your credibility and discoverability. The easiest and most straightforward way to start boosting your rankings is to respectfully ask friends, family, and clients to post reviews. You’ll also want to ask for ratings in the intro and outro of your episodes.
The key is to not sound desperate. Simply say “If you enjoy our show please leave a review so we can keep creating great content for you.”
Stay Consistent & Commit to Podcasting for at Least 12 Months
If you’re going to embark on a podcasting journey, it’s best to commit to the process for at least 12 months. You should at minimum do an initial podcast series. Most podcasts die before they reach 20 episodes… Don’t be one of these podcasts.
With the right help, you can be pushing out one episode per week which will lead to 52 new relationships per year. Think of the possibilities for new business with this kind of reach and networking ability.
Need Help Launching your Company Podcast?
As mentioned above, podcasting is a lot of work when you try to do everything yourself.
Luckily, there are podcast agencies such as Content Allies that are experts at launching and producing high-quality B2B podcasts.
Contact us today at Content Allies to learn how you can grow your business through podcasting.